Survive and advance
... and let Nolan be okay, please.
Survive and advance
... and let Nolan be okay, please.
Just be you. You is enough. - K, 4/5/10, 0:13.8 to play, 60-59 Duke.
You're all jealous hypocrites. - Titus on Laettner
You see those guys? Animals. They're animals. - SIU Coach Chris Lowery, on Duke
Awesome to see virtually everyone on the team step up in the face of Nolan's tough game. Kyle, Andre, Miles, Seth, Ryan, Mason: Great job!
If we can keep playing as a team like we did tonight, the sky is the limit.
I just stubbed my middle toe walking to get my computer... The curse has hit me now!!!!!
Great game by the "other" guys tonight. And Singler was dyn-o-mite!
Loved the balanced scoring and Andre looking confident again. Mason and Miles were outstanding too.
Anyone else really like Cory Alexander on Raycom/ACC Network?
For those looking for a couple of toe updates, News14 Carolina has the post game press confrence live. Should start in a few mins. MD at the podium now.
This appears to be what they call a bittersweet moment. A fantastic game from start to finish, probably the most complete game by this team all year. Unfortunately we have the spectre of another serious toe injury hanging over our collective heads.
Kyle had an exceptional game and stepped up when we needed it most. Keep taking it to the hole and getting to the charity stripe big guy. Leave the 3's for Seth and Dre.
Seth has had some really nice games this year, but this was probably his most complete game all year. He did all of the things we had heard him capable of during. If it comes down to it, I have confidence that he can run the point at a very high level.
Alert Air Defense Command. We had a long range bomber sighting tonight in Greensboro. Welcome back Dre. The kid had his stroke going and he was really bringing it on the defensive end of the court as well.
Miles played like the elder brother tonight. He continues to hit that short jumper and brings much needed bulk and toughness to this team.
Mason showed some flashes of superior talent tonight. It's games like this one that helps you understand why he is so highly touted.
Ryan had a great bounce back game from last Saturday's disaster. I'd say his only issue is holding his position in the post on the defensive end and I believe that is why Miles and Mason got the bulk of the minutes in the second half.
Tyler was Mr. Agressive tonight. Took it to the hole a couple of times and played his trademark in your face D.
I like our chances no matter what tomorrow. Tech will be on their third game in three days and they're already shorthanded.
I totally agree. I wouldn't necessarily look at Ryan not getting much PT in the second half as a reflection on him as much as K saw something going on and put the best five he had on the court. That is one of the things that he does so well, sees the game and makes personnel and strategy calls in the game... Miles was being a beast and Mason was showing a side of himself we haven't seen much of as well.
However, Ryan was a big part of this win for us tonight. His first half was critical!!
Nolan is a great player and has been throughout the year. Tonight the Maryland team really went after him and he had one of his worst games in memory, also going out with a potentially serious injury.
That said, it appeared that the team was somehow empowered by Nolan being off/out, as they all picked up the slack for him. Duke had more balance tonight than at any other time this year. Lots of contributors playing together with few of the one-on-one moves we have become accustomed to. Sure Kyle and Seth did at times, but it wasn't the offensive theme.
Quick turnaround for the next game, but that is also true for VT, only they have played more minutes (games) than our team.
I feel bad for criticizing Ryan since this was such a solid win, but I imagine one reason that K didn't play him in the second half as much was not only Miles' rebounding prowess, but the fact that Miles was playing better defense.
Several times in the first half, Ryan would overplay on screens -- not a problem, except through lack of communication, lack of quickness, or whatever, he never rotated back to his man (Dino Gregory I think?), leaving him consistently wide open on jumpers near the top of the key. I literally balled my hands into fists whenever Kelly was screened during the first half because of this. Perhaps, of course, it was K's intention to leave that shot for Gregory, but it seems unlikely to me.
Regardless, this isn't to take away from Miles, whose aggressive demeanor in the second half was a welcome sight. I would imagine that we'll see another dose of double Plumlee to start the VT game.
Great line.
Great to hear. I am very much looking forward to Kyle continuing to shoot the open 3s and to start hitting like I know he can.
I agree with most that the team's offensive movement looked really good and it was great to get solid contributions from everyone. I would agree that our interior defense was generally pretty good on Williams. He rebounded very well, but seemed to have to make some difficult shots for his field goals. I didn't feel like this was overall one of the team's better defensive efforts, however. I could be imagining things but, until the team went on the run when Nolan went out, I didn't feel like the team was consistently stopping a not particularly strong Maryland offense, or making them take difficult shots. I am, of course, very pleased with the win and the offensive contributions and team play, but hope the team can improve the defense a bit.
I didn't notice this and this may be part of the reason I didn't feel the team's D was that great. I usually find that Ryan positions himself quite well defensively, but perhaps he wasn't last night and that is one of the reasons (Miles' continued strong player being an even bigger one) he didn't see the floor a lot in spite of great shooting.
I didn't get to watch the game, but was following the stats on my phone. I was rooting for one more Miles rebound in the game, for what I was hoping would be a "double Plumlee double-double". Alas, it was not to be.
Seth looked great out there at the point, not only the plays he made but his body language and calmng influence once Nolan went out. I noticed we had him bring the ball down the court several times even while Nolan was still in there. Perhaps we knew Maryland's defense would focus on Nolan and so we tried to keep the ball out of his hands until we got into the half court
Tyler didn't have a very good game, I thought he was trying to do a little too much on both ends of the court. Fortunately his mistakes didn't end up hurting us too much. Great game overall.
1. Mason was great - probably his best floor game of the year. The most important stat - 38 minutes. Which means he was being effective on both ends of the floor, and he wasn't committing one or two silly fouls that force him to the bench. This was especially key because Jordan Williams is really good - and had a good game. Mason's passing was excellent, and Cory Alexander focused immediately on Mason's heads up call of the timeout during Kyle's scrum on the floor.
2. Seth took over when Nolan went down - that was an excellent show of leadership. And, I've noticed in the past few games that Seth has good on-court repoire with both Mason and Andre - getting them the ball where they can get good shots.
3. Miles and Ryan gave us important minutes on both ends of the floor - which helped mitigate the MD defense that was set up to and did an effective job containing Nolan.
Towards the end of the game, there appeared to be some jawing between Duke and MD players. I think Kyle and Seth both said something to them, but Seth seemed to be a bit more reluctant to let it go. I loved the way Mason hooked his arm around Seth's neck and dragged him into the middle of their Duke huddle to prevent him from saying or doing anything stupid. It may be small, but I thought Mason's move to rein Seth in showed a lot of maturity and leadership.