Duke Holds Off Eagles’ Near Comeback Bid

Sports fans are all too familiar with the term “it.” For those who have listened to years of television analysis, “it” is more than just a catch-all pronoun.
“It” is that ability to rise to the occasion when your team needs it the most. “It” lies in the little moments of the game. “It” was one of the biggest differences between Duke and Boston College on Saturday.

When Reggie Jackson dished to an open Joe Trapani for a would-be-game-tying 3-pointer, the shot glanced harmlessly off the rim, and a sellout Conte Forum crowd was instantly deflated and headed for the exits.

“He just held it too long,” coach Al Skinner said of Jackson’s role on the play. “Because Duke is going to switch everything, it’s tough to tell where the ball is going to end up. You just have to make a basketball play.”

BC had made most of the plays it needed to and valiantly came back from a double-digit deficit in the final 4:55, but just could not land the final blow. It was something that had been brewing since late in the first half when Duke turned a one-point lead into a 10-point one in the blink of an eye.

One of the most rewarding parts of attending live sporting events is that you  can not only hear the roar of the crowd – you can actually feel anticipation when the crowd is ready and willing to blow the roof off the building. When you can push your own fans over that edge or pull opposing crowds back from that brink, that’s when you have “it.”

Great teams and players will take that anticipation and push it past the previously understood extreme. Likewise, when on the road, they will feel it ready to boil over and quickly attack it like a rabid dog. They aim not just to delay the outburst, but to stomp it out once and for all.

For all the energy the crowd brought, the Eagles were only able to capitalize on it once. Forty minutes of game time, one legitimate crowd explosion.

The Eagles’ inability to force the matter is just as much to blame as Duke’s ability to stop them before they could.

Rakim Sanders had the building percolating with a highlight-reel transition block on Nolan Smith that led to a BC layup. Jon Scheyer came back the other way for the Blue Devils and hit a hand-in-the-face, cold-blooded 3-pointer to quiet the crowd.

The fans in Conte Forum were down, but they weren’t finished off yet. On the next possession, Duke nearly squeezed any chance of life out of BC when Mason Plumlee and Brian Zoubek gave Duke four chances. They grabbed anything and everything in the air before Kyle Singler finally got fouled after the Blue Devils had killed off 56 seconds from the game clock.

Tyler Roche ensured that people wouldn’t be heading for the exits early with four consecutive points, bringing BC back within four.

Then the Eagles finally hit the perfect combination to set off Conte. Corey Raji put on an offensive rebounding display of his own, grabbing a two-in-one possession before draining two free throws to prime the crowd. Smith coolly sunk his free throws on the other end, but Raji’s effort resonated, and the BC faithful were ready to will the team the rest of the way back.

That’s when Jackson came down the court and drilled an off-balance three that caused utter insanity. As he wandered up to the student section with a death stare and a chest pound, the crowd only got louder. It wasn’t a matter of whether BC would complete the comeback, it was what Reggie would do to make it happen.

“He likes to take the big shot,” Raji said of his sophomore teammate. “He wants to be the hero. We trust him to take that shot.”

Jackson had the chance to confirm the suspicions that Eagles fans have had since early in his freshman year, that he really did have “it.” He may have held the ball too long because he really wanted the shot. But Trapani had the open look, and you know he wanted it, too. Sanders was eagerly calling for the ball on the right wing. Even Raji looked like he wanted the shot.

“Anyone who has the ball wants that last shot,” Raji said.

Jackson may have held on to the ball too long, but Trapani was zero for three from 3-point land on the night before his game-ending miss.

Players who have “it” may want the last shot, and Jackson certainly did. Even if he didn’t take the shot, the game was always riding on his shoulders.

“The ball’s in his hands, only he can determine who takes the last shot,” Raji said. “We’re not upset [with his decision], but when teams double-team him, that’s when he needs to look for the open man.”

The game may have come down to one play, but the tone had been set earlier with Duke’s resistance. The message had been sent: If you don’t have “it,” you’re just not winning the game.

Duke may have limped across the finish line, but for just enough of the game’s 40 minutes, they had what the Eagles didn’t.