MBB: Duke 70, Georgia Tech 56 Post-Game Thread

[Jumbo]

Discuss ...

[Hancock 4 Duke]

3-0 in the ACC BABY!! Singler started off awesomely, but Henderson gets my vote for player of the game!

[77devil]

Looking forward to a home game.

Tonight was another good example of how defense prevails when the offense is not efficient.

[grossbus]

"Looking forward to a home game."

we are going to have to play a lot better at that home game than we did tonight, final score notwithstanding.

[roywhite]

24 wins of last 26 games vs Tech...wow

Really liked the second half...good defense, hit key shots. Nice contribution by McClure. Singler is everywhere and Gerald is now delivering consistently.

Always nice to get a road win in the ACC.

[Jumbo]

"Looking forward to a home game."

we are going to have to play a lot better at that home game than we did tonight, final score notwithstanding.

To beat an elite team? Sure. At least at one end. You may not have noticed, but our defense was once again outstanding. This is the best defensive team Duke has put on the floor in years.

Yes, the offense has lacked flow for a couple of games now. But let's not forget that there's an entire other half of the game in which Duke is excelling.

[geraldsneighbor]

Thoughts:
Kyle Singler:
Huge game. Helped us early, and often with buckets in clutch spots for us. His 13 rebounds were huge in a night that saw LT and Zoub not do very much.

G:
His continued maturation is huge. He give us another horse to do battle with Kyle. His 19 points tonight were big.

Greg Paulus:
I think we saw tonight when Greg can get a score early, he feeds off his confidence. The 3's were big and it looks like Greg is starting to find himself. He saw some big minutes tonight, especially early on.

Jon Scheyer:
Jon had probably his slowest shooting night of the season tonight. I think he started 1-10 from the field, but he finds ways to get to the line and when you need him he is there. Two big 3's in the second half helped us big.

The Big Men:
LT and Z both had 4 fouls, and also 2 pts and 7 rebounds between them. We need more from them then just going out there to use fouls, especially against teams like GT, who have larger front lines. While I was thrilled to see Kyle's post play tonight, I am a bit discouraged because I didn't want to have to see his post play. We definitely need a more consistent effort out of those guys because we can't afford to go stretches with Dave and Kyle having to be the 4 and 5 on offense and defense.

Good win, alot to learn from. Hopefully we will turn it on against a quickly improving Georgetown team Saturday.

[superdave]

Our offense struggled tonight. It struggled against FSU. It has had droughts in almost every game this year (VT, Davidson, Michigan).

I really really really hope we start attacking the basket more this season because we are going to need to draw fouls and get points in the paint when the three-ball isnt falling. We could have used a few buckets from Zoubek tonight and more drives to the basket from all our wings. I think Nolan had one and the rest of the team had 2-3 drive and finishes combined. Whew.

If we played this poorly offensively against a top 50 team, we'd have lost.

But the Defense is great - no complaints on that end whatsoever.

[Duvall]

.

If we played this poorly offensively against a top 50 team, we'd have lost.

We played worse offensively against a top 50 team on Saturday and won pretty easily.

[superdave]

I agree on Paulus needing to knock down a shot early. He can score 8-10 quickly and really gives us a boost.

I also agree on Zoubek and Thomas. 2pts, 7 boards wont cut it comes March. We need at 10 points between the two of them to keep defenses honest.

[trinity92]

This was an ugly win. We're playing great D, and Zoubek is a lot more solid with the ball, but we still don't have an inside guy we can dump it into, which leaves us shooting from the outside. The sky isn't falling, but we really need some more offensive production from Zoubek and Lance. It would be even nicer if Miles could earn some playing time, but let's not push the kid.

Glad to see Greg contributing-- Nolan is going to have growing pains learning to run the team, especially as conference play begins, and we need GP to be a very solid backup.

Good win, but u-g-l-y

Go duke!

[superdave]

We played worse offensively against a top 50 team on Saturday and won pretty easily.

I thought we executed better Saturday but got pushed around a lot. Whereas tonight they seemed to be concentrating really hard on setting up plays rather than attacking.

[delfrio]

I'm not sure the low-post concerns are really due to bad play on the part of Z and Lance (other than fouls). We used to throw the ball down low (to Z) and have him either kick it out or turn on the defender. I didn't much of that at all tonight.

[Jumbo]

It would be even nicer if Miles could earn some playing time, but let's not push the kid.

But Miles isn't a low-post scorer, either. His skills in that area are really raw. If he's going to earn minutes, it will be with defense and rebounding. Right now, I think we're getting enough of that from Zoubs, LT and McClure (in addition to Singler, obviously). It's nice to think that he's another potential option down the line, though.

[geraldsneighbor]

I haven't seen the minutes played by everyone yet tonight, but I assume it is pretty close between Nolan and Greg. Do you think if Greg continues to perform like he did tonight, is it possible for him to re-earn that starting spot?

I'm just not sure Nolan is ready to be the full-time PG for this team. He goes invisible in to many spots. He can definitely become a stud, I just don't know if were actually hurting ourselves sitting a 3 yr starter on the bench.

[Jumbo]

I haven't seen the minutes played by everyone yet tonight, but I assume it is pretty close between Nolan and Greg. Do you think if Greg continues to perform like he did tonight, is it possible for him to re-earn that starting spot?

I'm just not sure Nolan is ready to be the full-time PG for this team. He goes invisible in to many spots. He can definitely become a stud, I just don't know if were actually hurting ourselves sitting a 3 yr starter on the bench.

When you're talking about Nolan "going invisible," you're focusing too much on offense. You're forgetting about his significant defensive advantage over Paulus. And right now this team is carving out an identity as a D-first squad.

[geraldsneighbor]

When you're talking about Nolan "going invisible," you're focusing too much on offense. You're forgetting about his significant defensive advantage over Paulus. And right now this team is carving out an identity as a D-first squad.

Yeah, that's my mistake in not saying offensively. Nolan does give us a clear edge on defense, and I guess when your not letting teams get to 60 your going to win most games.

[quickgtp]

I agree on Paulus needing to knock down a shot early. He can score 8-10 quickly and really gives us a boost.

I also agree on Zoubek and Thomas. 2pts, 7 boards wont cut it comes March. We need at 10 points between the two of them to keep defenses honest.

Well said! I am certainly worried that Zoubek is regressing against tougher ACC post players. I firmly believe Plumlee needs to start getting more PT.

Our defense was superb though!

[SMO]

Duke shot 39% from the field, 33% from 3, and 59% from the FT line...and won by 14pts on the road. You gotta love this team. They're like the Pittsburg Steelers of college basketball.

Great D and very poor shooting from just about everywhere until a few 3's fell late. I thought they could have attacked the basket a little more, but the patient half-court worked well enough. I really hope the offense improves. Maybe we'll peak at the right time this year.

[roywhite]

It would be interesting to get more "chalk talk" on just how Duke's defense shut down GaTech. The first 10 minutes, the Tech big men were able to get the ball close to the basket and were pretty effective.

Late in the 1st half and through-out most of the second half, we put really good pressure on the ball and forced their offense further out on the floor. Lawal got very few touches, let alone opportunities, down low.

VaTech, FSU, and Ga Tech are not necessarily great offensive teams, but they have all been held down by Duke's defense.