An Attendee Cries in Uncasville?
Here we were, some of my buds and I were back for Sunday at the Mohegan Sun Arena for the 1st place game at the Hall of Fame Tip Off tournament, pitting America's NUMBER ONE team, the Duke Blue Devils against Rhode Island's finest, the 21st ranked Rhode Island Rams. This game broadcasted on ESPN was such a spectacle to watch that even a wild Chris Bohr appeared in the stands during this chilly afternoon. For the Rhode island faithful in attendance, everyone hoped to see the legendary Coach K with this kind of look on his face by the end of the night:
With a sold out arena, pitting two teams with very blue backgrounds against one another, one thing was clear before the 1:00 tip, this game would be a war. Or so I thought ...
Following a competitive first half in which they clearly exemplified the hunger that each team had to be crowned tournament champions in this pivotal non-conference game, URI left all of their hunger and desire in the locker room at halftime (literally). At the 15:50 mark in the second half, Duke ran out to a 42-28 lead that Rhode Island was never able to catch up to. Basically, Luke Kennard cooked every defender that tried to guard him using his accurate 3 point shot and his triple threat positioning on his way to a game-high 24 points. Just ask Kuran Iverson, who was shockingly benched by Coach Hurley in the second half due to his inability to defend Kennard effectively.
Even though the Rams limited pre-season NPOY favorite Grayson Allen to a measly 10 points on 3-11 shooting, that was not enough to hold serve against the Blue Devils. The only production that little Rhody could really muster was the 10 points on some great layups from Stan Robinson, 15 points and 7 blocks from Hassan Martin (which included a vicious rejection on Allen and a monster dunk on Chase Jeter's face), and a solid 22 points from Weymouth, MA native, Jared Terrell.
And to think, after Jared Terrell laid down a magnificent dunk on a backdoor cut that electrified the Rhode Island crowd to cut the early Duke lead to 15-12, the Rams never truly had a chance of a comeback in this hard-fought contest in Uncasville, CT. No tears were shed from any of the Rhode Island adult fans or the Rhody Ruckus but there were some questions that were certainly raised. Why did Kuran Iverson only play 11 minutes when no one else wearing a Midnight Navy jersey could defend or outrebound Amile Jefferson? Why were there not plays drawn up to have Terrell take more 3 point shots? After all, #32 was 2-3 from 3 point land while his team collectively totaled an ugly 27.3% mark (including his 2-3) from the same distance. These are questions that we may never get answers to but we can only hope that Dan Hurley has the Rhody Rams ready for the rest of their grueling non-conference schedule.
Congratulations to the Duke Blue Devils on their Hall of Fame Tip Off tournament victory. Perhaps in the future Duke and URI will find themselves in a rematch in the 2017 NCAA tournament, just a thought.
