All downhill in 2nd half

DUKE BURST BREAKS FLAMES’ HEARTS

(12/15/04)

DURHAM, N.C.—Five bad minutes.

That’s all it took for UIC’s upset dreams to unravel Tuesday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

A Duke run of 21 consecutive points, including a 16-0 bulge in the first five minutes of the second half, broke open a tight game as the No. 7 Blue Devils (7-0) defeated the Flames 88-55 in a game that was more competitive than the final score.

The Flames (3-4) gave Duke a major scare in the first half, making 9 of their first 13 shots from the floor to take a 22-14 lead with 10:07 left before intermission.

Sophomore forward Jovan Stefanov (pictured) and senior guard Cedrick Banks were hot early for UIC, scoring 10 and eight points, respectively, in the Flames’ opening run.

“Illinois-Chicago was ready to play,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “We were not ready to play defensively. We need to understand what song do you sing first in the medley and it's got to be the defensive song.”

The Blue Devils apparently took their coach’s words to heart, smothering the Flames’ offense from the latter moments of the first half and throughout the rest of the game.

Duke racked up a school-record 18 blocked shots and forced the Flames into a season-high 23 turnovers.

Leading the Blue Devils’ charge was 6-foot-9, 250-pound junior forward Shelden Williams, who exerted his physical presence on the Flames’ smaller front line. Williams finished with 23 points, 14 rebounds and seven blocked shots, taking advantage of lenient officiating.

With Duke leading 38-31 at the start of the second half, Williams took over, making two free throws on the Blue Devils’ first possession of the second half and slamming home three consecutive dunks, including catching J.J. Redick’s missed three-point shot at the rim and sending it home.

“We tried to double him a little bit, but Shelden is a big man,” UIC coach Jimmy Collins said. “But once he catches the ball down on the low post, there are very few people who are going to stop those broad shoulders from getting to the hole.

“Plus, we didn't block him out well in the second half and he got a few dunks, his adrenaline got flowing and it was wild from there.”

UIC missed its first six field goal attempts and its first four free throws of the second half as Duke built the lead to 54-31. Redick and Chicago native Sean Dockery made back-to-back three-pointers to cap the explosion.

“We came out in the first half kind of slow and kind of worked our way into it,” Williams said. “We wanted to make it a point in the second half to come out with fire and be electric throughout the whole second half.”

Elliott Poole finally scored on a layup with 14:31 left in the game to end the Blue Devils’ run.

Duke made some adjustments and ratcheted up its defense in the second half, pushing the Flames’ once-efficient offense farther from the basket.

“We certainly learned a valuable lesson on pressure defense,” Collins said. “Their pressure took us out of everything we wanted to do.”

Krzyzewski also made a point to slow down Stefanov, who was on his way to career night after scoring 15 points in the first half on 6-for-8 from the field.

“Stefanov had a great first half,” Krzyzewski said. “and in the second half, we made a change on how we were guarding him and it was effective. He usually scored right in the middle, so when he got the ball in the second half, we forced him baseline and brought a double-team and stood him up and we got a few turnovers.”

Stefanov had only one shot attempt after halftime and didn’t score again, falling one point shy of a career-high. He had five turnovers.

Banks had 12 points and five rebounds, but also had seven turnovers. Marcetteaus McGee added eight points and Armond Williams contributed six points and five rebounds before fouling out.

Redick complimented Shelden Williams’ inside play with 21 points off his own, including five three-point baskets. Ewing contributed 14 points, while Shavlik Randolph added four blocks.

The margin stayed around 20 until the final five minutes of the game when both teams emptied their benches. Duke’s reserves shut out UIC’s reserves for the final 6:03.

Many expected that the Flames were going to be easy fodder for the perennial powerhouse of college basketball, but UIC showed the exact opposite early in the game.

Banks splashed home a 17-foot jumper on the first possession of the game to give the Flames an early lead – and UIC did not back down.

After Williams scored on a hook shot to tie the game at 7-7, Banks hit one of his trademark three-pointers from the right corner to ignite an 8-0 spurt that ended with Stefanov three-pointer with 13:44 left in the half.

Justin Bowen’s 15-foot jumper from the right side gave the Flames a 22-14 advantage, but things started to come apart just a little after that.

Redick scored on a reverse layup and then Ewing stole the ball from Karl White and performed a dunk that is usually reserved for the NBA All-Star Game.

Redick nailed a three-pointer with 6:39 left before half to finally give Duke its first lead of the contest at 23-22. Ewing added two free throws to finish off an 11-0 Duke run, but the Flames weren’t quite finished.

Stefanov converted an old-fashioned three-point play and Marcetteaus McGee made two free throws to put UIC back ahead 27-25 with 5:14 left before the half.

Duke took a six-point lead on back-to-back treys by reverse Lee Melchionni, but Stefanov closed the gap to 33-31 on a 5-footer with 1:42 left. The Blue Devils closed the half with a baseline layup by freshman DeMarcus Nelson and another three from Redick—and the Flames never recovered.

“I'm grateful to [Duke] and to Coach K for giving us the opportunity to play on this stage,” Collins said. “We certainly learned a valuable lesson on pressure defense and maybe we can get some positives from that and move forward.”

The Flames showed remarkable poise for much of the first half, but Duke, led by Williams attacking the goal, obviously rattled them.

“I think some our young guys were intimidated,” said Collins when asked about the team’s poise. “I think we played well off emotion in the first half. You can only play off emotion for so long, and then you have to really buckle down.”

BANKS BITS: Banks (pictured) was named Horizon League Player of the Week on Monday after his 24-point effort in a 76-67 victory over UNC-Wilmington on Sunday. It was the fourth time in his career that he earned the honor.

He had 21 points in the second half, rescuing the Flames from a four-point deficit. In the game, he was 6-for-15 from three-point range, tying the school record for threes attempted in a single game.

Banks is currently fifth in the Horizon League in scoring at 13.9 points per contest.

In addition, Banks is now in third place on the school’s all-time scoring list, passing the late Chuck Lambert (1971-75). Banks’ finger roll with 6:03 left in the game put him ahead of Lambert by two points.

Banks now has 1,653 career points and is 372 behind Kenny Williams (1990-94) and 359 in back of Sherell Ford (1992-95).

MOVING UP THE CHARTS: Armond Williams is now 10th on the school’s career rebounding list with 571, just six behind Paul Wiloff’s 577, accomplished in 1978-82. … McGee ranks first in the Horizon League in free-throw percentage at .893 (25-for-28). … Stefanov is tied for third in the league with 6.9 rebounds per game.

UIC FANS: Around 200 Flames fans made the trip to Durham, including several members of the Fury and some season-ticket holders. Most were seated behind the Flames' bench.