Blue Devils say they're wary of Longhorns

GREENSBORO

They are not mirror images, not by any means.

But there are several striking similarities between Duke and Texas, who will meet tonight in an East Region second-round game tonight at the Greensboro Coliseum.

The Blue Devils have relied on their Big Three of Gerald Henderson, Kyle Singler and Jon Scheyer throughout the season.

The Longhorns boast a Big Three of their own, with A.J. Abrams, Dexter Pittman and Damion James.

The Blue Devils were rejuvenated by a lineup change in February and have played their best basketball over the past 10 games … and the Longhorns finally found their best chemistry after shuffling their lineup in February.

Both teams have versatile players and like to play similar styles.

"I think we can match up with Duke pretty good," Pittman said yesterday, "because we've got players that can play any position and basically defend any kind of way."

Duke, 29-6 and the East Region's No. 2 seed, advanced to the second round with an 86-62 win over Binghamton on Thursday night. Texas, 23-11 and the No. 7 seed, beat Minnesota 76-62 on Thursday night.

Abrams, a 5-11 senior guard, put on a fabulous shooting display against Minnesota and finished with 26 points. He hit eight 3-pointers, an NCAA Tournament record, including five straight 3-pointers in a six-minute stretch of the second half when the Longhorns pulled away.

He has averaged 16.6 points with 103 3-pointers, and has shot 39.9 percent from 3-point range.

Coach Mike Krzyzewski compared Abrams to Duke's all-time leading scorer, J.J. Redick, because of Abrams' quick release.

"He doesn't need the dribble," Krzyzewski said. "He reminds me a lot of how J.J. shot. They can shoot while they're turning. They get into a rhythm. So he doesn't need a large window of opportunity to get a shot off. And he's right there. I mean, even his misses are right there. He's just one of the most dangerous shooters, I think, in our game right now."

Pittman, a 6-10 junior center, probably weighs more than his listed 298. But he's definitely down significantly from the 370 he was listed at earlier in his career. He had 17 points and 11 rebounds against Minnesota, and has averaged 10.2 points and 5.4 rebounds for the season.

Krzyzewski compared Pittman to Charles Barkley in the sense that he takes up so much space inside. Pittman started Texas' first 15 games, saw his playing time dwindle for the next nine, then has been dominant inside since returning to the starting lineup. In the Big 12 Tournament, he had 26 points and 10 rebounds against Colorado, then had 19 points and 20 rebounds against Kansas State.

"Pittman's like that, he has his space," Krzyzewski said. "You're not going to knock him out of his space. He's been a really good player for them. Since inserting him the starting lineup, they've developed a little bit of a different style of play. To be a double-double guy, and sometimes a high double-double guy, is huge. He's extremely difficult to defend down there."

James, a 6-7, 222-pound small forward, had 18 points and nine rebounds against Minnesota and has averaged 15.4 points and 9.2 rebounds for the season.

Henderson compared James to Singler, and it's likely they will be matched up often tonight.

"James is versatile," Henderson said. "He's kind of like Kyle in a way because he can come outside and shoot, and he rebounds the ball very well. They have a lot of versatility, so it's going to be critical coming up with a (good) game plan for them."

Stopping Abrams will be the biggest priority.

"It all starts with Abrams," Henderson said. "He's their best player. They kind of rely on him for his shooting. I'm sure everyone on the perimeter will be guarding him at some point, because they run a lot of stuff where you have to switch off. He's quick, and he's running off a bunch of screens, so everybody will have to guard him."

Texas' other starters are Justin Mason, a 6-2 junior, and Dogus Balbay, a 6-0 sophomore. The Longhorns are 8-4 since Coach Rick Barnes inserted Balbay into the starting lineup -- and eventually went back to Pittman, too -- in early February.

Abrams said he thinks that Texas is playing its best basketball of the season.

"I think we had our ups and downs this season," Abrams said. "You know, we had to play a lot of different styles as far as going inside, changing the lineups a few times. But doing all that, it's going to pay off for us because we had to do so many things. Even though we had our growing pains, I think we're peaking at the right time."

The Blue Devils are 9-1 since Krzyzewski moved freshman Elliot Williams into the starting lineup along with Henderson, Singler, Scheyer and Lance Thomas.

All five scored in double figures against Binghamton. Scheyer led the way with 15, Thomas scored 14, Henderson scored 13, Williams 11 and Singler 10 with nine rebounds. The Blue Devils also got 13 points off the bench from Nolan Smith.

Henderson and Singler are each averaging 16.5 points.

■ John Delong can be reached at jdelong@wsjournal.com.