NEW YORK - If anybody had told Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski he would win a game against No. 13 UConn after shooting 28 percent from the floor, he wouldn't have believed you.
"I would have been very worried or mad at you," Krzyzewski said.
But thanks to the Blue Devils' 25 offensive rebounds, 16 turnovers and the abysmal free throw shooting by UConn (5-1), Duke held off the Huskies 68-59 to do just that and win the NIT Season Tip-off final.
UConn got off to a fast start and was able to use their superior athleticism in the first half, taking a 22-21 lead with 9:38 remaining in the half but it was the last lead they would have. From that point on the Blue Devils outscored UConn 16-6 to finish with a nine-point lead at half time.
While Duke's 3-point shooting, 33 percent, was by no means good, the six they made were more than the four that the Huskies attempted. Of those four they made none.
The second half began much like the first half ended. Behind a pair of threes from Jon Scheyer and Andre Dawkins, Duke used a 12-0 run to open up a 53-34 lead with 13:48 remaining in the second half that virtually put the game out of reach for UConn.
The Huskies spent much of the second half playing catch-up and were able to cut the Duke lead to single digits with under three minutes to play, but missed free throws down the stretch quashed any chance of a comeback.
With Duke leading by nine and 1:53 remaining, Jerome Dyson managed to get a steal and was able to corral the ball in under the Blue Devil basket. Dyson inexplicably missed the layup to cut the lead to seven and was unable to get the rebound.
Dyson, who is usually a nearly automatic free-throw shooter, was just 3-for-9 from the line and missed all three of his three-pointers badly. According to coach Jim Calhoun, Dyson's sub-par shooting was not to blame for the loss, though.
"I don't think perimeter shooting was our problem," Calhoun said. "I think our problem was when we caught the ball in the post we were shooting fade away jumpers."
In a game where points were hard to come by, rebounds increased greatly in importance and Duke was able to outrebound the Huskies 56-43, including 25-14 on offensive rebounds. Both Lance Thomas and Brian Zoubeck had 11 rebounds for Duke and that proved to be the difference according to Calhoun.
"They banged us inside," Calhoun said. "You've got to make a choice, bang back and get the ball or get banged."
Calhoun was quick to critisize senior Stanley Robinson who shut down pre season all-american Kyle Singler on defense but only grabbed four rebounds which, according to Calhoun, in a game with that many missed shots is unacceptable.
"For him to play 35 minutes and get four rebounds in a game with 87 misses just can't happen," Calhoun said. "He's a terrific rebounder."
As much criticism as Calhoun had for Robinson, Kryzewski had praise for his players.
"We rebounded very well, we played outstanding defense," Kryzewski said. "I thought Thomas and Zouebeck were outstanding for us."
Dyson finished with 15 points to lead the Huskies and Gavin Edwards finished with 12 - including a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line.
However, there was nobody on UConn to match Scheyer who led Duke with 19 points, 5 assists and 5 rebounds.
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