MOTM: Duke vs. St. John's (Jan 28, 2012)

[JBDuke]

Who was Man of the Match in Duke's 83-76 win over St. John's?

[Bob Green]

I went with Mason Plumlee who had a very nice double-double of 17 rebounds and 15 points. Ryan Kelly has to be in the discussion due to making 10-12 free throws with many coming down the stretch. Kelly was one rebound away from a double-double. Austin Rivers also deserves consideration as he attacked the rim and scored a couple of times when we really needed a basket.

[SupaDave]

The team's chances grow with Mason's confidence.

[DukeBlueHeart4]

The team's chances grow with Mason's confidence.

I completely agree with this. When Mason does well, the team seems to play better as a whole. They came back in the second half by shutting down our ability to get inside to him. After that we looked shaken and rushed at times. I was hoping that he'd gain more confidence at the free throw line after the game at Maryland but I have say that I was happy with him today.

[Duvall]

Worth noting that Duke's level of play declined sharply once Tyler Thornton left the game with foul trouble in the second half.

[bluedevilfan1998]

I went with Mason Plumlee who had a very nice double-double of 17 rebounds and 15 points. Ryan Kelly has to be in the discussion due to making 10-12 free throws with many coming down the stretch. Kelly was one rebound away from a double-double. Austin Rivers also deserves consideration as he attacked the rim and scored a couple of times when we really needed a basket.

I chose Kelly because of the free throws. Mason definitely had a good game.

[devildeac]

Mason with another double-double with a career high boards according to Duke radio and espn. Ryan was best supporting actor.

[Ggallagher]

That's another solid game for Mason. And I have to believe there's been some hard work and focus on shoring up his free throw skills. His recent turn around isn't a matter of luck, I don't think. So thanks for the hard work - and Ryan was right behind Mason with his contributions today.

[stixof96]

plumlee can't do it by himself........kelly played pretty well too, but, these guards must find game somewhere........

[ACCBBallFan]

As usual, it was Mason as Duke's best player.

Duke St.J +/- Metrics Sum Duke

71 (63) 08 65 73 Mason Plumlee, F

62 (53) 09 56 65 Ryan Kelly, F
79 (66) 13 51 64 Andre Dawkins, G

73 (67) 06 49 55 Austin Rivers, G
67 (53) 14 39 53 Seth Curry, G

19 (18) 01 17 18 Miles Plumlee, F
18 (16) 02 13 15 Tyler Thornton, G

09 (14) (5) 10 05 Josh Hairston, F

17 (30) (13) 12 (1) Quinn Cook, G

Column labelled Metrics is sum of all positive stats like points, rebounds, assists less turnovers less fouls.

Seth and Dre had the best +/- this game.

Since Davidson game, after discarding the best + and the worst -, Austin and Ryan continue to lead, ditto for past 5 games

St. John Last 5 ~Hi/Lo Duke +/- since Davidson game

06 44 163 Austin Rivers, G

09 36 126 Ryan Kelly, F

02 34 111 Tyler Thornton, G

08 30 110 Mason Plumlee, F

14 32 107 Seth Curry, G

13 05 80 Andre Dawkins, G

01 03 66 Miles Plumlee, F

(13) 09 54 Quinn Cook, G

(5) (3) 34 Josh Hairston, F

00 (11) 00 Michael Gbinije, G-F

[weezie]

I would like to see some true clearing out for AR to make his moves toward the basket thing with the net hanging from it.

Late in 2nd half, as the margin began to shrink, he sure looked like it was go time for him.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Mason had a great first half (8 pts, 12 boards) and a serviceable second half, so he gets my vote. I would have voted for him in the DBR poll, but I voted for the first Miles Plumlee, as did most others, thinking that the starters were listed first and that that Miles was really Mason.

If Ryan had been able to finish some of his close-in shots today, we'd have won by 20+. Even Capel mentioned that (but not Ryan by name) in the post game radio show, that we left 16 to 21 points out there that we should have had.

[Kedsy]

Worth noting that Duke's level of play declined sharply once Tyler Thornton left the game with foul trouble in the second half.

While this is somewhat true (he subbed out with 4 fouls when Duke had a 56-37 lead and when he came back in it was 67-58), it's also true that the team built a lead from 17-10 (when Tyler subbed out in the first half) to 54-32 without him. Also, when he subbed in in the 2nd half, St. Johns outscored us 5 to 2 before he picked up his 4th foul, so it's also possible our level of play was already declining, having nothing to do with Tyler. Here's his playing chart:

FIRST HALF
17:23, Tyler IN (score 10-8)
11:57, Tyler OUT (score 17-10) +5

SECOND HALF
17:09, Tyler IN (score 54-32)
15:27, Tyler OUT (score 56-37) -3
7:58, Tyler IN (score 67-58)
6:10, Tyler OUT (score 69-60) 0
0:50, Tyler IN (score 76-69)
GAME OVER, (83-76) 0

Looking at this, it doesn't appear that Tyler affected our level of play, one way or the other.

[ACCBBallFan]

Here is the +/- for each combination:


Duke St. John's +/- Min
43 30 13 19.3 Seth-Austin-Mason-Ryan-Dre *5

02 07 (5) 04.1 Seth-Austin-Mason-Ryan-Tyler *3

08 13 (5) 03.5 Austin-Dre-Miles-Quinn-Josh *2

07 09 (2) 03.3 Seth-Mason-Ryan-Dre-Quinn *2

00 05 (5) 01.8 Austin-Mason-Ryan-Dre-Quinn *2

07 03 04 01.5 Seth-Austin-Mason--Dre-Miles

03 02 01 01.4 Austin-Mason-Dre-Tyler-Miles

01 00 01 01.4 Austin-Miles-Dre-Tyler-Josh

02 00 02 01.0 Austin-Mason-Ryan-Dre-Tyler

00 01 (1) 00.9 Austin-Mason-Tyler-Quinn-Josh

02 02 00 00.8 Austin-Mason-Ryan-Tyler-Quinn

03 00 03 00.7 Seth-Mason-Ryan-Dre-Tyler *2

03 00 03 00.2 Seth-Austin-Ryan-Dre-Tyler *2

02 04 (2) 00.2 Seth-Austin-Mason-Dre-Tyler