March 26, 2009.
Glendale, Arizona — As his career wound down, Duke senior point guard Greg Paulus could only watch with tears of disbelief in his eyes as with an 87 point offensive explosion in the 2nd half fueled by 21 Duke turnovers, UNC Asheville crushed Duke by 42 points that had a decidedly pro-Asheville crowd cheering throughout, reveling in the triumph of an Cinderella Bulldog squad that will advance to face the #1 seeded USC Trojans in the Elite 8.
Coming out of the locker rooms at the break with a 43-41 lead, the Bulldogs seized control using a stifling half court trap; while leaving the 7'6" George in the back to swat 7 Duke shots. With 42 second half points by George, the Bulldogs completely dominated the highly ranked Blue Devils, who yet again failed to live up to expectations.
"It's a great win and accomplishment for our kids.' But we don't want to pat ourselves on the back just yet," UNC-Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach said. "We still have another game to play."
"The game was a story of turnovers. They didn't make turnovers," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "They were really good with the basketball. We just had 21 turnovers and you can't give away that many possessions."
Kyle Singler, Gerald Henderson, and Jon Scheyer all had 20 or more points for the Blue Devils, but despite being loaded with McDonalds All-Americans and blue chip recruits, the bench production went heavily in favor of the Bulldogs' by the lopsided score of 40-2. All 12 Asheville players saw time on the court, compared to Duke's 8 man rotation.
In his final game in a Duke jersey, Greg Paulus only had 9 points on 3 for 8 shooting, and 6 turnovers.
Starters
Min
FGM-A
3PM-A
FTM-A
OREB
REB
AST
STL
BLK
TO
PF
PTS
George, Kenny, C
37
23/27
0/0
1/1
4
9
1
0
7
0
3
47
Augst, Reid, PF
34
8/14
0/0
0/0
1
4
2
0
0
0
3
16
S. Smith, SF
28
2/5
0/1
0/0
0
2
11
8
1
1
1
4
C. Stephenson, SG
27
4/7
1/2
1/1
3
3
2
0
0
0
1
10
J. Primm, PG
25
6/10
0/1
1/1
1
2
11
5
1
0
1
13
Bench
Min
FGM-A
3PM-A
FTM-A
OREB
REB
AST
STL
BLK
TO
PF
PTS
, C
8
2/3
0/0
0/0
0
1
0
0
1
0
1
4
Q. Jackson, SG
11
3/4
1/1
1/1
0
0
3
0
0
0
0
8
M. Dickey, PG
14
5/8
1/1
2/2
2
3
3
0
0
1
1
13
R. Gill, SG
6
1/2
0/1
0/0
0
0
2
2
0
0
0
2
J. Williams, SG
3
2/2
0/0
0/0
0
0
1
1
0
0
0
4
J. Ridenhour, SF
6
3/3
0/0
0/0
1
1
1
0
1
0
0
6
B. Davis, SG
6
1/4
1/3
0/0
0
0
2
2
0
0
0
3
Duke
Starters
Min
FGM-A
3PM-A
FTM-A
OREB
REB
AST
STL
BLK
TO
PF
PTS
L. Thomas, C
37
7/9
0/0
2/2
5
7
3
0
2
1
0
16
K. Singler, PF
40
9/18
0/2
2/2
3
9
2
0
0
0
1
20
G. Henderson, SF
37
8/19
0/1
4/5
2
5
3
0
0
1
0
20
J. Scheyer, SG
35
9/15
1/3
2/2
2
2
7
2
0
12
1
21
G. Paulus, PG
34
3/8
1/3
2/3
1
3
4
0
1
6
0
9
Bench
Min
FGM-A
3PM-A
FTM-A
OREB
REB
AST
STL
BLK
TO
PF
PTS
M. Plumlee, PF
5
0/1
0/0
0/1
1
2
0
0
0
0
2
0
B. Zoubek, C
4
1/1
0/0
0/0
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
2
O. Czyz, PF
8
0/1
0/0
0/0
4
5
1
0
0
0
1
0
0
0/0
0/0
0/0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
N. Smith
0
0/0
0/0
0/0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
M. Pocius
0
0/0
0/0
0/0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
D. McClure
0
0/0
0/0
0/0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0