Duke notes: Jeremy Roach dislocates pinky, had it popped back into place

NEW YORK – Looking to find something to worry about after that resounding Duke 93-55 win over James Madison in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at Barclays Center on Sunday?

Well, Jeremy Roach got hurt.

The senior point guard who has been so vital to Duke’s success the past few years, was injured in the opening minutes of the game.

With 13:36 left in the first half, Roach committed a foul on a drive by James Madison’s Jaylen Carey and immediately left the game, holding his left hand. He sat at the end of the bench getting worked on by the Duke training staff, and appeared to be in pain.

Roach had dislocated his pinky. He got his pinky taped and returned to the game three minutes later, and missed his first two jump shots after the injury.

But otherwise the floor leader seemed to be fine, and now has four days off before Duke’s Sweet 16 game Friday night against either Houston or Texas A&M. Roach finished with 15 points, six assists and two steals.

“It just got a little dislocated when I reached in, but it popped back in and it’s fine,” Roach said. “It’ll be a little sore but I’ll be fine.”

Jaylen Blakes got banged up as well, with 8:29 left, takes a very hard foul, stays down for a few minutes, then helped to locker room. He came back on the bench shortly afterwards and appeared to be fine postgame.

Coach Jon Scheyer said Roach would be getting X-rayed and that they didn’t know Blakes’ status yet.

Last year in this round, Duke was out-muscled and out-toughed by an older, more physically-imposing team in Tennessee.

On Sunday, Duke again played a much more experienced, physically-big team in James Madison, who boasted a starting lineup of a graduate student, two seniors and a junior.

But one year made a huge difference. Duke hung with the Dukes’ frontcourt and harassed JMU into 38% shooting.

And the rebounding battle was just about even, with Duke grabbing 37 rebounds while James Madison had 32.

“We knew it was going to be a similar type of game,” Duke’s Kyle Filipowski said. “I think we learned our lesson playing last year. We didn't want to repeat that at all. Just learned and moved on from that and I think that showed tonight.”

“It was just about fight, trying to make sure they didn’t get any big rebounds and run outs,” Mark Mitchell added. “This was a totally different game, a totally different mindset from us.”

James Madison came into Sunday’s contest having forced 19 Wisconsin turnovers in the Dukes’ win on Friday, so ballhandling was definitely going to be crucial for Duke on Sunday.

They handled James Madison’s defense just fine. The Blue Devils committed only six turnovers Sunday, with the Blue Devils guards accounting for only one throwaway. And Duke had 22 assists.

“The first four minutes, just looking back at the Wisconsin game, (JMU) really rattled them, got up in their faces,” Roach said. “I kept reminding the guys, ‘Just relax, we’re going to play our game, we played a physical team before and just stay calm.'”

Roach added that everyone handled the ball well Sunday, not just the guards. And he also had a message for those who doubted Duke.

“Anybody jumping on the bandwagon now, we don’t need you,” Roach said. “We need 15 guys in the locker room and the coaching staff to believe in us, and we’ve got that.”

With Duke safely in the Sweet 16, the focus turns to Friday night’s game, which will very much be a road game for Duke, in Dallas.

Whether it’s against No. 1 South seed Houston (240 miles from Dallas) or Texas A&M (181 miles from College Station to Dallas), there figures to be a ton of opposing fans in the arena.

Throw in the fact that every other team’s fan base hates Duke, and you can expect to hear lots of anti-Blue Devil noise Friday night.

“It’s going to be fun,” Roach said. “Both physical teams, both offensive rebound like crazy. Our fans travel well, we felt the love today for sure.”

There was some consternation in Duke fan circles after Friday night’s low-scoring game by Filipowski, when the big fella had just one field goal.

Sunday the center bounced back with a more-typical game for him, as he scored 14 points on 6-for-8 shooting, with all of his points coming in the low post.

Filipowski also grabbed five rebounds and dished out four assists.

The much-maligned Atlantic Coast Conference gets a lot of abuse from college basketball fans during the regular season, but once again in March, the land of Everett Case and Frank McGuire has shown its strength.

Duke and Clemson both winning Sunday meant the ACC put four teams in the Sweet 16, a full quarter of the field.

“It’s an interesting, weird feeling to play each other all year and then as soon as we get to the Tournament you watch them on TV and cheer for them,” Ryan Young said. “The tournament is funky, and different and interesting, and it’s great to see the ACC represented so well.”

The Duke men weren’t the only hoops victors from the school Sunday, and Scheyer made sure to shout out Kara Lawson’s team, who beat Ohio State in Columbus to reach the Sweet 16 as well.

“Shout-out to our women's team," Scheyer said. “I'm watching the game, getting ready today, and Reigan Richardson, oh, my gosh, she was incredible today. So seeing our team go to the Sweet 16, to share this with them, hopefully we can both keep advancing. But I just want to give them a shout-out and we'll see the ladies back in Durham.”