The Blue Devils squeaked out a home court victory in their first game against some real competition before heading to NYC to face the Salukis.
Kyle Singler dropped 21 points in 38 minutes, including three 3 balls. He also iced 2 foul shots in the final seconds to give Duke the lead, and eventually the victory. The 6-8 Singler poses some matchup problems for the Salukis (and just about everyone else) because of his size, ability to take the ball coast to coast, and perimeter jump shot.
Southern will probably throw some combination of Carlton Fay and Anthony Booker on Singler, saving Tony Boyle and Nick Evans for 6-8 Lance Thomas and 7-1 Brian Zoubek. Fay has GOT to stay out of foul trouble because the Salukis need his scoring punch to spring the upset.
The Salukis would have played this weekend also, but their game against Cal (Pa.) was moved into the 2k sports tournament leaving them one game short. As it turns out this may be advantageous for the Dawgs since they were able to watch Duke's game today and can also take advantage of additional practice time before leaving for NYC on Tuesday.
The Duke-Rhode Island game has to give the Salukis confidence. Rhode Island had Duke on the ropes for most of this contest and the Blue Devils needed some end game heroics to get the win. Things won't be as easy for the Dukies away from the friendly confines of Cameron Indoor but the Salukis will still need to play the way they did in the second half vs UMass for 40 minutes to have a chance to win at the Garden.
