Duke 86, New Mexico State 61

The Devils passed their first pseudo-test of the season, and even if it was with less than flying colors, it was a very solid performance. Early on (and yes, I realize it's still early) this team seems to be making its mark in two ways - rebounding and forcing turnovers. Including the exhibitions, none of Duke's 4 opponents have: a) pulled down 68% or more of defensive rebounds; b) gathered 30% or more of offensive rebounds; and c) held onto the ball for better than 70% of possessions. The rebounding tonight was particularly impressive, as Duke absolutely controlled the defensive glass against a very tall front line. And the turnovers helped fuel Duke's run in the first half and early second half that put the game out of reach, regardless of how frisky the Aggies got toward the end. Duke obviously won't be able to maintain numbers quite this good all season, but if it can win the rebounding and turnover battles in every game (or close to it), that will give the team a consistent advantage.

Here's the HD Box for tonight's game:

O. Poss

D. Poss

+/-

Pts

2PM-A

3PM-A

FTM-A

FGA

Ast

TO

STL

BLK

ORB

DRB

Scheyer

54

55

+24

22/61

4-5

4-6

2-3

11/44

1/14

3/54

2/55

1/37

1/24

3/26

Henderson

56

55

+18

11/62

5-9

0-3

1-2

12/43

2/17

3/56

1/55

1/35

0/22

0/18

Nelson

56

56

+18

14/61

3-5

2-3

2-2

8/45

3/16

3/56

0/56

0/40

2/25

5/24

King

30

31

+16

7/34

0-2

2-6

1-2

8/29

0/11

0/30

0/31

0/24

0/18

4/17

Singler

53

50

+16

10/57

3-4

0-3

4-5

7/42

1/19

0/53

2/50

2/36

1/21

4/20

Paulus

52

50

+16

9/57

3-4

1-2

0-2

6/41

8/17

3/52

4/50

0/36

2/23

2/18

Smith

29

31

+9

2/29

1-4

0-2

0-0

6/26

3/8

3/29

0/31

0/19

0/14

0/15

Zoubek

20

21

+6

2/17

1-3

0-0

0-0

3/20

0/6

0/20

1/21

2/12

2/12

3/9

Pocius

13

14

+6

4/15

2-2

0-1

0-0

3/12

0/4

0/13

1/14

0/7

1/6

0/4

Thomas

42

42

-4

5/37

1-3

0-0

3-3

3/33

0/14

2/42

0/42

0/29

2/20

2/14

Duke

81

81

+25

86

23-41

9-26

13-19

67

18/32

16/81

10/81

6/55

12/37

27/33

0.561

0.346

0.684

56.25

19.75

12.35

10.91

32.43

81.82

Not surprisingly, Scheyer posted the best +/- of any Duke player last night (one surprising note, the negative +/- for Lance Thomas). Scheyer was excellent, finally finding his stroke and picking his spots extremely well on the way to a game-high 22. Paulus also had a very solid game, running the floor and running the offense. Tonight his role was more as a distributor, and distribute he did - nearly half of the hoops made while Paulus was on the floor were the result of his passing.