In the End, Redick Left With No Shot

After Scoring 41 Points, Duke Star Doesn't Get an Opportunity to Tie the Game

After the final buzzer sounded and a swarm of Georgetown fans flooded MCI Center's court, Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski offered a concise message to his freshman point guard, Greg Paulus: "You have to find J.J."

Duke's J.J. Redick exhibited an offensive clinic for nearly 40 minutes yesterday, scoring 41 points on an array of contested three-pointers and acrobatic layups. But when the top-ranked Blue Devils needed him most, down by three points with 6.5 seconds remaining, they failed to get the ball into the hands of perhaps the nation's surest shooter in an 87-84 defeat to Georgetown.

Paulus rushed the ball upcourt, moving toward the left. He said he wanted to penetrate and kick the ball out to a shooter. He said he knew Redick was on the right side of the court.

"I could hear him [Redick] screaming for the ball," said Georgetown's Darrel Owens, who covered Redick on the final play. "Thank God they went away from him."

Paulus got caught around a cluster of Hoyas, and the ball came loose. The game ended, without Redick having a final chance to force overtime.

Georgetown began the game with 6-foot-2 Ashanti Cook on Redick, but then alternated throughout with taller players, such as 6-9 Brandon Bowman and the 6-7 Owens. No one was effective at stopping Redick, who scored 18 of Duke's 28 points in the first half.

Hoyas Coach John Thompson III knew his team could only slow Redick so much, so his aim was to take away all of Duke's other offensive threats. That worked, as all-American forward-center Shelden Williams finished with as many points (four) as fouls.

But Redick's efforts were nearly enough to claw the Blue Devils back from a 16-point deficit early in the second half. Six of the senior's 12 field goals were from three-point range. But he also made creative inside shots, like when he shifted the ball in midair for a left-handed layup or when he sank a mid-range floater under duress.

Redick displayed an arsenal of shots and moves that he did not seem to possess earlier in his college career.

"This may sound crazy," Thompson said, "but we did a decent job on defense, and he scored 41. He makes shots. Boy, can he make shots."

With less than five minutes remaining, Redick made two shots in a 30-second stretch, a three-pointer and a fade-away, to slice the deficit to 74-70. But he did not make another field goal, missing his last three three-point attempts.

When asked if he forced shots in the closing minutes, Redick said, "Uh, no."

Bowman, who blocked a three-point attempt by Redick with 33 seconds remaining, said he "was not letting him out of my sight" in the final minutes. Still, when Paulus sped up court with 6.5 seconds remaining, Bowman admitted being a little scared that the ball would find Redick, and he would again find the bottom of the net with a desperation three-pointer.

"You can't compare him to anyone else in college," Owens said. "He can be compared to Kobe Bryant because he is going to continue to shoot and everything runs through him."