Duke’s 'big three' lives up to its name

INDIANAPOLIS – On the biggest stage in college basketball, Nolan Smith, Jon Scheyer and Kyle Singler proved why they are referred to as the big three.

The trio consistently got clean looks and cashed in with 63 points to lead the Blue Devils to a 78-57 win over West Virginia and a berth in Monday's National Championship against Butler.

"We wanted to play with confidence. This is the type of game where you can't hold anything back. We did a great job of playing (confident) and freely," Singler said.
Thirty-six of Smith, Scheyer and Singler's points came from 3-pointers, as the Blue Devils often penetrated into the lane and dish the ball out for clean looks.

"Coach wanted us to keep them out of the middle of the floor and we didn't do a good job of doing that. As soon as they got to the middle they found open shooters," said WVU forward Kevin Jones.

Duke's crisp passing paid off in a major way as it finished with 20 assists and only six turnovers. Smith and Scheyer combined for 12 assists without a turnover.

"Our care for the ball was excellent," said Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski.

While the Blue Devils protected the ball, West Virginia point guard Joe Mazzulla thought it was an all around poor defensive showing from his team.

"We just didn't execute defensively like we have recently. They were hitting wide open shots. We didn't get to contest too many," he said.

Singler set the tone early and showed he wouldn't endure another poor night from the field after going 0-for-10 in the Blue Devils' South Region final victory over Baylor.

The junior scored on a layup 2:30 into the contest and hit five more first-half baskets to lead all scorers with 14 points at the break.

While the Medford, Ore., product did a bulk of the Blue Devils damage, he was not alone in leading Duke to a 39-31 halftime lead.

Smith battled through three first-half fouls to score 11 points, while Scheyer contributed eight.

The second half was Scheyer's turn to shine. He scored 15 points after intermission to lead all scorers with 23, while Singler and Smith finished with 21 and 19, respectively.

"They're three really good players. Every time we tried to make a run they hit a shot that pushed us back. We were just never able to fully recover from that," Jones said.

The big three combined to shoot 22-for-45 from the field, including a more proficient 12-for-23 effort on 3-pointers.

The Mountaineers primarily played man-to-man defense, but changed to a 1-3-1 for several possessions throughout the contest. Neither was capable of slowing down a trio that entered the contest averaging over 53 points.

"We had a game plan if they did go to the zone and the couple times they did, we attacked it pretty well," Scheyer said. "We were really well prepared and we felt comfortable no matter what they did."

gregory.carey@mail.wvu.edu