Three ACC teams took the floor last night, two teams suspended players, and one coach refused to talk to reporters after the game. As Patrick Stevens said, its just November 3rd, not February 3rd.
Duke 84 Findlay 48
Duke won their scrimmage against Findlay 84-48, led by 20 points from Kyle Singler and 19 points from Jon Scheyer, but the big news happened before the game.
In a pre-game interview, Mike Krzyzewski announced Nolan Smith had been suspended for the first 2 games of the regular season for playing in a non-sanctioned summer league. Further, to help the Blue Devils get acclimated to Smith's absence, the junior sat for the first half of the Findlay game, as well. Duke started Jon Scheyer, Kyle Singler, Lance Thomas, Miles Plumlee, and Brian Zoubek in the first half and played quite sloppy. The thing that stood out the most was both Duke's ability to take care of the ball and force turnovers. Findlay had just 5 turnovers in the first half, while Duke turned the ball over 10 times. When Smith entered the lineup things changed significantly, as you can see graphed below.
Duke did do some things well, namely rebounding the basketball, where the Blue Devils grabbed nearly half of their own misses. Once again Miles Plumlee stood out, grabbing 10 boards, 6 of which on the offensive end.
Going into the first two games of the season, we saw a glimpse of what Duke may look like without Smith. You can bet that Duke will be looking into how they can do better in the turnover battle, and how they can simply get better shots without a playmaker like Smith on the court.
Maryland 75 IUP 54
Maryland took the floor and beat IUP 75-54 led by 14 points from Sean Mosley and Landon Milbourne" target="_new">Landon Milbourne. Greivis Vasquez" target="_new">Greivis Vasquez also added 13 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and 4 steals in the win. Despite those numbers, the game remained a little too close for Gary Williams' liking. The game stayed in single-digits until about 13 minute mark in the 2nd half. After the game Williams didn't answer a reporter's question, reportedly a first in his tenure. The early jettison may have been about the game, or may have been about a mysterious suspension.
Prior to the game Gary Williams announced that Dino Gregory" target="_new">Dino Gregory has been suspended for violation of team rules. There was no elaboration on the suspension nor any indication on when he may return. Some have speculated that Gregory may be kicked off the team.
With Gregory's absence and the injury of sophomore Steve Goins" target="_new">Steve Goins, two freshmen took over the paint. Jordan Williams finished 7 points and 6 rebounds while James Padgett scored 8 points and grabbed 4 rebounds. According to Washington Times reporter Patrick Stevens, "Padgett looks slicker on offense, but Williams' rebounding (especially at the offensive end) stands out."
FSU 81 Delta State 38
With much less drama than the other two games of the night, FSU soundly took care of business beating Delta State 81-38. Solomon Alabi" target="_new">Solomon Alabi led the way for FSU with 16 points and 6 rebounds, while adding 3 blocks. Eight other Seminoles scored at least 5 points in the balanced effort as the team forced 26 turnovers.
The game marked FSU's first game without playmaker Toney Douglas" target="_new">Toney Douglas, who has moved on to the NBA. Without Douglas, the Seminoles focus on the offense shifted to getting the ball inside...
"We got the ball inside a little more than we have in the past," said Hamilton of Alabi's presence in the paint. "We still didn't have the right balance; we need to get the ball kicked out a little more on the perimeter. We want to get at least 25 post touches per game. I thought we came close. We might have had 27 or28. We are trying to put a lot more emphasis on that this year."
FSU's next exhibition game is on November 9th against Georgetown College.
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