The Daily Southerner, Tarboro, NC

Sports

February 9, 2010

Blue Devils riding Scheyer, Smith, Singler

The Associated Press Associated Press

DURHAM (AP) — Jon Scheyer, Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler really couldn't ask for much more.

The Duke trio has found the setup that every college basketball player dreams of: plenty of shots, lots of points and abundant minutes. The formula has carried No. 8 Duke to the top of the Atlantic Coast Conference heading into Wednesday's trip to rival North Carolina, and the Blue Devils' hopes of making a strong push in March could hinge on how well their "Big Three" holds up under that burden the rest of the year.

"We ideally would like to have balanced scoring, but it's not really how it is," Singler said Monday. "The responsibility that Jon, Nolan and myself has, we don't necessarily look at it as pressure because we have each other to help each other out."

So far, Scheyer, Smith and Singler are each averaging better than 16 points per game and entered Saturday's win at Boston College as the nation's top scoring trio. All three are ranked among the ACC scoring leaders — Scheyer and Smith rank second and third, respectively — while they account for about two-thirds of the Blue Devils' scoring output, shot attempts and made free throws.

Scheyer, a senior, leads Duke (19-4, 7-2 ACC) at just under 19 points per game and leads the league by shooting 91 percent at the foul line. Smith is averaging about 18 points, while fellow junior Singler is averaging about 17 points as an inside-out threat. No other Blue Devils player averages more than seven points.

They could be in line for a big performance against the defending national champion Tar Heels (13-10, 2-6), who have struggled to defend the perimeter all season and are limping through their worst stretch under coach Roy Williams.

"All three of us work on scoring off each other and getting great looks," Smith said. "Scoring for us just comes because we're all veterans and we've played in a lot of games. Now we're at the point where we're so comfortable out there that scoring sometimes comes easily."

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski has been content to rely on the trio to lead the offense, saying there's a significant gap between the "Big Three" and the rest of the team in experience and scoring ability.

"If only two of them were scoring, I'd be disappointed," Krzyzewski joked. "The way we have set up our team, those three guys have to be put in prominent positions to score and they've come through pretty well in doing that. That's the nature of our team. If we had a fourth really big scorer, then I'd try to figure that out."

The biggest concern, however, might be the amount of mileage each player is picking up while hoisting all those shots. Scheyer leads the ACC at more than 36 minutes played per game, while Singler is third and Smith is fourth at 35 minutes each.

Singler — who seemed to wear down late in his freshman year — has logged 40 minutes in five games, while Scheyer and Smith have done it three times each. In Saturday's 66-63 win at BC, Scheyer and Smith played 40 minutes and Singler played 39.

Yet Krzyzewski said he's not worried about them wearing down, saying he is careful with limiting their workload in practices and that players want to stay on the court in games.

Scheyer isn't complaining, either.

"This is it for me," the senior said. "I'm taking care of my body every day. I feel great. I can't remember I felt tired in a game in terms of being winded where I needed to come out.

"In terms of minutes, I know even though I might play a lot of minutes, I owe it to the team to give it everything I had for those minutes," he added. "If it got to a point where I was pacing myself or not playing defense like I could, then I'd say there's something wrong with this. But that's not the case."

Text Only
Sports
  • Christain Buffaloe.jpg Local youth wins 2012 United States Kyokushin Karate Championship

    Christian Buffaloe, 12 year old son/student of Nash County Kyokushin Karate instructor Kenny Buffaloe, recently won the youth division of the Japan sponsored "2012 Kyokushin Karate U.S. Weight Category Tournament" in Los Angeles, California on January 22nd. This annual tournament is one of the largest and most prestigious Kyokushin Karate full  contact competitions outside of Japan

    February 9, 2012 1 Photo

  • Imani Dye.jpg Vikings swept by Jaguars in EPC action

    The Tarboro Vikings played right with the Farmville Central Jaguars Tuesday on senior night in Tarboro, but couldn't put a complete game together and the Jaguars pulled away in the fourth quarter. They defeated the Vikings 61-39.
    "We came out strong and played good ball until the end of the third quarter," Tarboro head coach Craig Savage said. "Then Farmville Central made a run and we couldn't recover."

    February 8, 2012 1 Photo

  • Cougar boys win against Rams

    February 8, 2012

  • Javin Hinton.jpg Tarboro defeats SWE 76-62 to get first conference win

    SouthWest Edgecombe Cougars head basketball coach Tom Wooten had to make some tough decisions Friday morning. He had to decide if he needed to cancel his varsity basketball game with Tarboro or cancel the JV game and move the JV players up to play Tarboro's varsity team.

    February 6, 2012 1 Photo

  • Rashawnda Pevey.jpg Lady Vikings beat Lady Cougars for third time this season 42-34

    Most basketball experts will say that it is hard for one team to beat another three times in the same year. Friday night the SouthWest Edgecombe Lady Cougars tried their best to make that a true statement in their third match up of the year with the Tarboro Lady Vikings. The Lady Cougars gave a game effort, but came up short on the scoreboard, losing to the Lady Vikings by the score of 42-34.

    February 6, 2012 1 Photo

  • NE Warriors split with Weldon; boys lose, girls win in TRC action

    LEGGETT – Senior Jasmine Downing picked up her second consecutive triple double with 14 points, 11 rebounds and 10 blocked shots Friday night to lead the Lady Warriors to a 51-40 win over the Lady Chargers of Weldon. With the win, the Lady Warriors find themselves in the middle of the pack in the Tar Roanoke Conference.

    February 6, 2012

  • First 2012 hickory shad caught

    Henry C. Knight, III, caught the winner in the 2nd Annual Tar River First Shad Contest, in Tarboro this past Sunday morning about 9 a.m. Henry Knight? Are you kidding me?
    Henry winning this season’s Tar River First Shad Contest is about like Albert Einstein being a contestant on Jeopardy, and asking Alex Trebeck, in his best old-world German accent, “Alex, I vood like you should give me da physics category for $2000.” It’s a done deal, my friend. Take the money to the bank.

    February 3, 2012

  • Rashwanda Pevey.jpg Cougar boys, girls both lose to Panthers in Eastern Plains Conference action

    PINETOPS – The SouthWest Cougars bounced back Tuesday and played the way their head coach Tom Wooten knew his team was capable of playing, but they fell short against Eastern Plains Conference foe the North Pitt Panthers. They were defeated 62-52.

    February 1, 2012 2 Photos

  • Warriors sweep Kipp Pride in conference play

    LEGGETT – North Edgecombe rolled past Kipp Pride 70-56 with the help of four players who scored a combined total of 57 points to lead the Warriors. Senior Devonte Lloyd, 22 points, Denzel Lucas, 12; Mark Moore, 10; Quantarius Williams, 13.

    February 1, 2012

  • Tarboro falls to Kinston twice

    KINSTON – The Kinston Vikings, the fourth ranked 2A team in the state, had all they can handle last night as the Tarboro Vikings stayed with them for three quarters, with Kinston finally securing an 83-69 victory. Kinston remains tied for the Eastern Plains 2A conference lead, while Tarboro failed again to capture their first victory in league play. But Tarboro did not go down easy for the talented Kinston squad, who also benefitted from numerous favorable calls from the officials throughout the evening.

    February 1, 2012