Gotta be Karl Hess, right?
Who was Man of the Match in Duke's 75-60 win over Virginia Tech?
JBDuke
Andre Dawkins: “People ask me if I can still shoot, and I ask them if they can still breathe. That’s kind of the same thing.”
Gotta be Karl Hess, right?
Austin
That was Austin's best game of the season...by far in my opinion. Made good decisions with the ball and got others easy shots, shot the ball well himself, and really stepped it up on defense. I think we saw that Austin has the ability to be a very good perimeter defender if he is willing to make that an emphasis.
Almost voted for Austin, but changed my mind. I voted for Josh. He came out and played good defense. Moved his feet better than I thought he could. I thought he keyed the defense to begin the game. GoDuke!
He did everything. But great to see Josh step up, too.
Gotta love the Rivers.
What a complete game by Rivers. Good shooting/shot selection (except one time, IIRC), on-ball D, help D, 5 A, 2 TO, 5 boards. Really liked Josh's effort and stat line. Kelly also very solid from the bench. Very complete effort with few lapses tonight. And a better ACC record on the road than at home so far.
[redacted] them and the horses they rode in on.
I went with Austin. Honorable Mention to Josh. Not only did he bring energy and good defense, he played within himself better than any other game of his career imo. Very nice job.
Austin was MOTM though. Best all around game of his young career. I agree with others that Austin is our best on ball defender, though Seth and Tyler have both stepped it up in that area as well.
A+ to the team defense as well.
Great games by lot of people. Josh getting the start was a statement by Coach K that defense comes first, and everyone heard it. I agree that Josh played under control - sometimes when a "high energy" guy gets on the floor he's too amped up and overdoes it, but that didn't happen. Loved the energy shown by the whole team. I voted for Austin as he took what the defense gave and played smart.
For Sunday's game, will a current Crazy please make a sign that looks like the Austin Powers logo but instead says Austin Rivers? How has this not happened yet?
Threw up a vote for Cook. Felt like he came in and gave the team a real spark on offense. Had a great sequence with a lay-up and then connected with Ryan for a big 3. Really provided some instant offense tonight.
Rivers also had a great game!
Actually, part joking, mostly serious. We have 4 road wins which are huge. Granted they are not against unc, f$u and UVa but any road wins are to be cherished and are tough to accomplish. We could have stumbled in any of those but ended up with the W, putting us back into a tie for first place and hopefully gaining more confidence in the process. I am very pleased so far with 4-0 on the road.
[redacted] them and the horses they rode in on.
Josh, for earning the start and having his practice play carry over to the game.
Sometimes, the most important parts of winning happen before the ball is even jumped . . . .
Eric Green steals a pass and is gone for an easy layup on the other end. Other guys and even Austin at other times say "oh well, next play" and let him go. Not this time. Austin follows Green, times his jump perfectly, completely alters the layup, without fouling, and is still in position to get the rebound of the miss. That's a Kyle/Jon/Shane play.
"That young man has an extra step on his ladder the rest of us just don't have."
Voted for Austin but I thought Hairston and Thornton really provided the team with an "edge" early which was key. However, the real MOTM IMO has to go to K who's press conference/quotes ripping into the team clearly got their attention (along with a week of what was surely tough practices). I noticed also a quote in the ESPN recap about the team stopping their focus on their Twitter families and instead focussing on the Duke family.
Should be interesting to see if the team can keep the intensity they had last night.
Tough to argue against Rivers or our two new defensive starters, but the key moment in the game was Kelly owning Davila for that dunk and layup in the first half.
I went with Rivers not so much for his 18 points but for the improvement in his ability to drive and still look for open teammates. He also drove without getting the ball knocked out once tonight I believe. Also his defense was superb on and off the ball. The points he brought in were just a bonus to me.