MBB: Duke 77, Tennessee 67 Post Game Thread

[Ultrarunner]

Best game of the season to date by far.

Nitpicking:
...3) I'd like to see more out of Miles.

Tomorrow's match will be fun!

Not picking on you in particular but Miles is doing better than many on the board give him credit for especially his interior defense which doesn't show in the stats.

His two drives in the first half were a surprise and both were successful at drawing fouls from the defender. If you look at his game stats, he was even with (or slighly better than) his brother on a per minute basis. He is easily the best offensive rebounder on the team. Sadly, he performed worse at the ft line - a difficult feat but apparently attainable.

Still, given the minutes he had, Miles was quite productive.

[Newton_14]

Our poor foul shooting will sooner or later end up costing us a game we should win. Mason, Miles and even Austin are not making a good percentage of their foul shots. I look for Coach K to do some offense to defense substitutions and get his better shooters in the closing minutes. GoDuke!

As a team we need to improve with foul shots, with Mason needing the most work. K is using the offense for defense subs in the last 3 minutes though. He did it against Davidson and again today. He goes to one big with Ryan on offense and Mason on defense, with Quinn or Tyler as the extra guard. Hopefully the staff can work with Mason and get some improvement there. He gets good rotation on the ball but has trouble with distance control and the shot being too flat.

Solid win today. I like Tennessee's team. Well coached, very athletic with exceptional length at every position, and a tough, gritty defensive team. We were sloppy for the start of the game and the defensive intensity was lacking. Once we ratcheted up the defensive pressure, things turned. One thing we did well all game though, was take the 3 away. We basically forced them to drive and depended on the bigs to stop the penetration. The first 10 minutes we did a poor job with the help in the paint on drivers, but as the game wore on the bigs started making life more difficult. Tennessee attacked hard but we matched their toughness and once again blocked, altered, or pressure the Vols into a lot of misses.

Offensively we were very balanced again with the 4 double figure scorers, and a fifth with 8 points. Mason's foul shooting is the only thing stopping him from scoring in double figures every game. If he can improve by even a little bit there, it will make a difference. Getting double figures from 2 of the 3 bigs each game will make this a very dangerous offensive team. Our perimeter guys played well again as a whole. Andre was more active playing heavy minutes. I would like to see us get him more shots though. He can be a dangerous weapon if he works and the guys find him.

Austin was up and down but I loved the floaters and he kicked to open guys a few times as well. He finished strong the times he took it to the hole as well, and knocked down the 2 three's. Seth was solid again with 17 and 4, but also had 4 turnovers. Just needs to be a bit more careful with the ball.

I liked our toughness out there. With this schedule, by the time conference play starts, these guys will have been well tested. That surely will be a positive in ACC play.

Only question I have is, when did the puke blue color become part of Tennessee's colors??? Yikes!

[feldspar]

First of all, that was a terribly, terribly officiated game. I don't blame Dre a bit for being frustrated.

As a basketball official, I get a kick out of hearing fans utter this phrase, just as I'm sure Coach K and the staff must get a kick out of people saying "that was a terribly coached game." The multitude of intricacies and nuance that go into officiating a game would absolutely boggle the mind. Yes, there were some missed calls, especially the late knee when Dawkins was on the floor.

But I'd love to hear your armchair view of how, other than a few incidents or calls that didn't go Duke's way, how this game was "terribly, terribly officiated..."

[roywhite]

Official Boxscore

Balanced scoring as others have commented.

Four starters over 30 minutes played, and the other at 27 minutes.
Don't have the other games' stats in front of me, but is this the most minutes to go to the starters of our games so far?

As Greg Newton notes, Mason has made great improvement in what IMO was his biggest need---the ability to put the ball in the basket when he gets within 5 or 6 feet.
His jump hooks look good, he absorbs contact better, and is getting the hang of the up-and-under moves. And, oh yeah, the alley-oops are sweet.
Plus his rebounding and defense are at a high level.

[dcar1985]

I agree with your overall post, but I disagree with the statement above. Austin Rivers has no left hand.

No left hand is a stretch...he's drove left quite a few times this year already, that eurostep he had against Presbyterian comes to mind right away...thats not an eeasy move at all especially goin to your weak hand. He does prefer to go right...but like I've told people my whole life playin ball being a lefty and people saying I had no right..."I can go right but if you cant stop me going left why do it?"

[BobbyFan]

-Ryan Kelly is once again the most efficient player on offense. I think he should be getting more touches in iso situations, he's very very difficult to stop.

Agreed. When Kelly is playing well, our offense simply functions at a different level and becomes more efficient with better spacing. He has quietly taken up many of Singler's offensive responsibilities.

[CDu]

Four starters over 30 minutes played, and the other at 27 minutes.
Don't have the other games' stats in front of me, but is this the most minutes to go to the starters of our games so far?

Yes, although that's a bit deceiving. The same five guys played roughly the same number of minutes in the MSU game. The difference was that Miles happened to start (played only 14 minutes though) whereas Kelly came off the bench (played 30 minutes).

Guys not named Mason, Kelly, Dawkins, Rivers, and Curry played a combined 41 minutes tonight. They played 39 minutes in the MSU game.

[Newton_14]

Mason played another near-perfect game. One of his turnovers was even a thing of beauty - he went to work on the left block, and every step and shoulder-blow for 4-5 dribbles was perfect until he got too excited and shuffled his right foot on the final pivot. I wish we'd run the offense through him down low every time, unless we've got a set play that demands otherwise.

I thought the play where his improvement was most clear was the first play of the second half. I mean, how many times last year did we see him drive from the top of the key without a clear plan, spin, then plant his spinning foot lateral to his pivot foot and either a) panic and travel, b) get stripped, or c) shoot a weak fadeaway because he was left with bad position and no more steps?

However, on this move, he a) held his pivot foot, b) was aware of his surroundings and under control, and c) made an incredible step with his right foot to complete the spin. If you watch it in slow-mo, you'll see him step 5-6 feet straight towards the rim - not easy or natural with a spin move - and plant his foot past the legs of the defender, thus working in a textbook drop step, and finishing through an (uncalled) foul at the rim. That right-foot step alone is a massive improvement from anything we saw of him as an underclassman, IMO.

Great post. Mason is much improved and dare I say "miles" ahead of where he was last year. His post work tonight was really good. He is either finishing or drawing fouls at an incredibly high rate. The only thing killing him is the foul shooting. If the staff can find away to help him improve there, he can be a 15ppg 10rpg guy night in an night out. I hope we start going to him even more. Kelly was great tonight as well. I do wish we would work harder to get Miles the ball close in on the right block. He can be really effective with the little jumphook off glass. He is much better when he catches it down low on the block there. I do like Miles catching it at the high post as well. If he is too far out when he catches on the block though, he struggles.

I am still super estatic about the play of all 4 of our bigs thus far. It just makes us a much better team..

[Bob Green]

No left hand is a stretch...he's drove left quite a few times this year already, that eurostep he had against Presbyterian comes to mind right away...thats not an eeasy move at all especially goin to your weak hand. He does prefer to go right...but like I've told people my whole life playin ball being a lefty and people saying I had no right..."I can go right but if you cant stop me going left why do it?"

When Rivers goes left to the hoop, he still lays the ball up with his right hand. I have not seen him finish with the left hand so that is why I say he has no left hand.

[dcar1985]

When Rivers goes left to the hoop, he still lays the ball up with his right hand. I have not seen him finish with the left hand so that is why I say he has no left hand.

My example was a left hand layup...he had a couple against Belmont as well as they challenged him to go left and he took it and finished lefty

[licc85]

Yes, although that's a bit deceiving. The same five guys played roughly the same number of minutes in the MSU game. The difference was that Miles happened to start (played only 14 minutes though) whereas Kelly came off the bench (played 30 minutes).

Guys not named Mason, Kelly, Dawkins, Rivers, and Curry played a combined 41 minutes tonight. They played 39 minutes in the MSU game.

I'm a little worried that we're going to a 7-man rotation so early in the year, especially in a 3 games in 3 days situation. I hope our starters have enough gas to play all out for game 3. This is supposed to be a deep team, although I suspect our young guys will get their chance at some point this year once our schedule gets a bit lighter.

[Bob Green]

My example was a left hand layup...he had a couple against Belmont as well as they challenged him to go left and he took it and finished lefty

I didn't notice him finishing with his left hand, but seeing as you saw it, I stand corrected.

[licc85]

When Rivers goes left to the hoop, he still lays the ball up with his right hand. I have not seen him finish with the left hand so that is why I say he has no left hand.

I definitely remember a nice left handed lay in that he had in the davidson game, I remember commenting on how he used his left hand.

[CDu]

When Rivers goes left to the hoop, he still lays the ball up with his right hand. I have not seen him finish with the left hand so that is why I say he has no left hand.

Typically when the "has no left hand" comment is used, it's in reference to ballhandling (like Gerald Henderson). Lots of players shoot layups predominantly with their dominant hand. That being said, I think we've seen a few examples of Rivers shooting with the left hand. And I'm less concerned about which hand he shoots the layup with than I am about when he choose to shoot and when to pass.

[Atldukie79]

Over Coach K's tenure, I have had only 2 recurring coaching decisions that I consistently disagreed with...
The first was the extensive use of man to man in the early 80's because it cost us a few wins when wins were precious. However, I saw the light in the mid 80's when I understood this was about establishing a winnning program, a brand and an identity to recruit around. Score one (more) for Coach K!

The second recurring coaching decision that i have had issue with is...when to go "stall ball". I contend that K typically goes stall ball too early. (Believe me...I know you can't argue results!)

Tonight, however, I thought the timing was right...an 11 point lead with roughly 3 1/2 minutes to go made sense. Other than Dre's quick 3 point attempt off of an offensive rebound, we ran it fairly well and never seemed to be threatened.

[DukieInBrasil]

I agree with your overall post, but I disagree with the statement above. Austin Rivers has no left hand.

Sorry, that's not true. Watch the Davidson game again and you'll see Austin score with his left hand on multiple occasions. It may not be his strongest option, but he does have a left hand and scores with it to boot.

[House G]

At the risk of someone going Lloyd Bentsen on me, I see some of Larry Bird in Ryan Kelly. To me, he doesn't really pass the eyeball test as a great basketball player. Yet he seems to have a similar basketball IQ. Bird was relatively slow and could not jump, but he was able to compensate for these inadequacies by knowing how to play the game. Bird was also tough as nails and I can't think of anyone who wanted to win more than he. Finally, Kelly's height and range create matchup problems and open up the floor, often making his teammates more effective.

[Gthoma2a]

I like Tyler's intensity, but I am not sold on his being a lockdown defender yet. He is pretty good, but he got beaten out of position a few times and had to give up fouls. He impresses me with his effort, but I wonder how much of the lockdown defender reputation is just seeing him trying on the defensive end and getting people pumped.

[jipops]

There were some excellent defensive exchanges by Miles tonight. The communication he was offering up out there and the ability to recover on drives is something that will benefit us down the road.

[CDu]

At the risk of someone going Lloyd Bentsen on me, I see some of Larry Bird in Ryan Kelly. To me, he doesn't really pass the eyeball test as a great basketball player. Yet he seems to have a similar basketball IQ. Bird was relatively slow and could not jump, but he was able to compensate for these inadequacies by knowing how to play the game. Bird was also tough as nails and I can't think of anyone who wanted to win more than he. Finally, Kelly's height and range create matchup problems and open up the floor, often making his teammates more effective.

Maybe a little bit. Bird was a much better ballhandler and passer. And at the risk of quantifying an intangible quality, while Kelly has a good basketball IQ, Bird's was off the charts. I think Nowitzki is a better style comp of "tall, slowish, not a great leaper, but can get it done as a scorer."