Devils aware of Terps' trap
By BRYAN STRICKLAND : The Herald-Sun
bstrickland@heraldsun.com
Jan 20, 2004 : 11:49 pm ET
Daniel Ewing remembers everything about Duke's game at Maryland last January.
Ewing also remembers everything that happened after the game.
"It wasn't a good trip back home," the Duke guard said. "Coach was pretty upset in the locker room.
"It wasn't pretty."
The Blue Devils were sitting pretty entering the game, ranked No. 1 and proud of their status as the nation's only remaining unbeaten team. But the Blue Devils played a subpar second half, and their first trip to the state-of-the-art Comcast Center resulted in their first loss of the season, 87-72.
On paper, essentially the same Duke team will return to Comcast Center tonight -- minus Dahntay Jones, plus Luol Deng. But the Blue Devils, by all accounts, are not the same team.
"They played well, and we played scared. That was our first real road game. But things have changed," sophomore guard J.J. Redick said. "Experience certainly has something to do with it. When we went on the road it seemed like the games we won were all games where we got off to a good start, and the games we lost were games where we had some adversity and we were too immature to overcome that adversity to get a win.
"But this team is maturing. We're working well together. There's just a togetherness out there. It doesn't matter which five guys are out there on the floor. We're playing with a lot of chemistry."
That maturity has manifested itself in some spectacular play away from home this season. It started with a blowout victory at Michigan State -- a top-10 team at the time -- continued with a blowout victory over Texas at Madison Square Garden and most recently included solid victories at Clemson and Virginia.
Those victories -- as well as impressive ones at home against Wake Forest and N.C. State last week -- have added up to an 11-game winning streak that has the Blue Devils atop the national polls.
Of course, that's where Duke stood last season when it visited Maryland. But the Terrapins, too, are a different team that the one that downed Duke last January.
Gone is point guard Steve Blake, the fifth-leading assist man in NCAA history and always a thorn in Duke's side. Gone are perimeter point producer Drew Nicholas and post players Tahj Holden and Ryan Randle.
They've been replaced in the starting lineup by sophomores and freshmen and a lone senior in Jamar Smith -- a second-year senior from the junior college ranks.
Like Duke this time last year, the Terps are young but talented. And like the Blue Devils last season, it's added up to a mixed bag: victories at No. 1 Florida and at home against UNC; losses at Florida State and to West Virginia in the Terps' own tournament.
"We've played well at times, but other times we haven't played as well," Maryland coach Gary Williams said. "I think we're getting better overall, but we're still having our peaks and valleys.
"We have to mature a little bit here now that we're in the ACC full-time and understand that every game is going to be against a good basketball team. Obviously with our game against Duke, we're playing the best team in the country right now. We're going to have to play very well if we expect to win."
The Blue Devils expect Maryland to play very well -- as well they should. The Terps tend to play their best basketball at home and have traditionally saved their best for Duke -- especially a No. 1 Duke team.
"They're a different team now, but they're still going to come after us hard," Ewing said. "They have a lot of talent over there and a good coach. It's going to be a packed house, and they're going to come after us.
"They gave us a pretty good loss up there last year, and I'm sure they've got some guys from last year that remember that and want to feel like that again. Hopefully we can get up there and play some solid defense and silence that crowd."
NOTES -- Deng is the only key contributor not to play at Maryland, but he has been to some Maryland games. One of Deng's sisters played basketball at Maryland. "I kind of know their crowd and what they're like," said Deng, who hasn't attended a Duke game at Maryland. "The crowds over there are really into it, they're really intense, and they're really going to try to get under my skin. But it's something I'm looking forward to." n The Blue Devils have won 12 of the last 16 games in the series but have lost their last two trips to Maryland. n Duke -- behind Shelden Williams' 3.7 blocked shots per game -- and Maryland, behind a balanced attack, are both on pace to break the ACC record for blocks per game. Maryland leads with 7.7 blocks and Duke is second with 7.4. The ACC record is 6.7, set by Clemson in 1990 and matched by Maryland in 2000.
