With sixteen seconds left in the second half on Saturday against Duke, E.J. Singler hit a three-pointer. It was his second of the game, and proved to be highly inconsequential as the Blue Devils ran away with a 98-71 win.
While the younger of the Singlers had his moments in Oregon’s contest on Saturday, it was older brother who got the last laugh in the first competitive basketball game between the siblings.
A senior at Duke this season, Kyle Singler put on a show for the crowd at the Rose Garden in Portland. He scored 30 points in all, hitting five three-pointers and shooting a crisp 60 percent from the field. Clearly, the unique circumstances of facing his younger brother didn’t faze him.
“I’m amazingly proud of Kyle,” Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “Today was a special day for Kyle … I loved the way he performed today. Where a lot of people might have been nervous or whatever, he’s just never nervous.”
The same could not be said for E.J. Singler.
In the first half, he was held scoreless with a turnover and two fouls. Though he played much better in the second half, the spotlight was clearly a bit intimidating for the sophomore.
“E.J. was nervous,” Oregon head coach Dana Altman said. “I understand that, it’s a big day for him … it’s a learning experience for E.J., and he’s a hardworking young man, and he’s great for our program.”
With so many family members and friends in the crowd, one could hardly blame E.J. for finding himself caught up in the moment.
“It was pretty emotional at first,” E.J. Singler said. “But it calms down a little bit … I just went into it saying I was going to do the best that I could.”
Though billed as a matchup between two brothers who grew up in Oregon, the game was about far more than just the Singlers. No. 1 Duke was playing a rare game on the West Coast, while a rebuilding Oregon team looked to see how it matched up against the best of the best.
For Krzyzewski’s part, he came away very impressed with a young Oregon team.
“I thought Oregon played their hearts out,” Krzyzewski said. “Watching them on tape, we knew that they’re starting a whole new program based on hard work, toughness and just hustle.”
Indeed, the Ducks made up for an obvious difference in talent with physical and often frenetic defensive schemes. As a result, Oregon totaled seven blocks and forced 19 Blue Devil turnovers.
“I liked some of the opportunities our press gave us,” Altman said. “I like our fight. We got down, guys continued to play hard, showed some good intensity.”
Senior forward Joevan Catron agreed, and thought the Ducks were at least successful in showing their heart to the fans.
“We didn’t get the win tonight,” Catron said. “But we did want to come out and show our fans that we’re going to fight for forty minutes to try to get the ‘W.’”
Though it could have been a discouraging blowout, a head-to-head matchup with Duke proved to be valuable as the Ducks search for an identity.
“It’s good for our team,” Altman said. “We’ve got a long ways to go, but I think it helps our guys to see a program with as many NBA prospects as Duke has trying to take all the charges that they tried to take, seeing the way they share the ball, their enthusiasm on the bench.
“There are so many things in their program that I think all programs want to emulate.”
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