Man of the Match vs Gonzaga

[Troublemaker]

Who was the MOTM vs Gonzaga?

[geraldsneighbor]

Duke defense. Held the Zags to 29% from the field and kept them all in single digits scoring. But if I had to make a vote, give it to Nolan. He hit a few big ones to help Duke pulled away and was truly efficient today.

[jpfrizzle]

Nolan FTW

[Battierfan01]

As the official Defense Minister of the Nolan Smith Fan Club, my vote is with NOLAN!! He seemed to really take over when Duke was struggling to score early.



Battierfan01
DEFENSE MINISTER NS FAN CLUB

[jv001]

Tough call between Nolan and Jon, but i went with Nolan. He played under control and hit some big baskets. But so did Jon. Just thought he played a little better than Jon(by that much). Go Duke!

[Bob Green]

I voted for Nolan Smith due to his defensive intensity and smooth 3-point stroke during the 2nd half. He had a wonderful game.

Jon Scheyer earns a strong Honorable Mention with his effort today. He was strong with the ball again dishing out five assists against one turnover according to ESPN's unofficial stats.

[Saratoga2]

I thought Kelly had an excellent game which I am sure will show up on the game films. Sure, Nolan and Scheyer played excellent ball and Zoubek had a strong game, but I just had to vote for Kelly.

[Son of Mojo]

Went with Scheyer (and I can see Smith getting it) but I really enjoyed watching Kelly play. I counted 4 blocks from him this afternoon--he's a machine!!

[airowe]

I voted for Nolan Smith due to his defensive intensity and smooth 3-point stroke during the 2nd half. He had a wonderful game.

Jon Scheyer earns a strong Honorable Mention with his effort today. He was strong with the ball again dishing out five assists against one turnover according to ESPN's unofficial stats.

He actually had 8 AST/2 TO. ESPN's stats are wrong.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/gamecenter/boxscore/NCAAB_20091219_GONZAG@DUKE

[Bob Green]

He actually had 8 AST/2 TO. ESPN's stats are wrong.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/gamecenter/boxscore/NCAAB_20091219_GONZAG@DUKE

The stats at CBS Sports are unofficial just like the ones at ESPN. Once GoDuke.com posts the official game stats we will know for sure. FWIW, I seem to remember two turnovers by Jon a travel call and a bad pass.

[airowe]

The stats at CBS Sports are unofficial just like the ones at ESPN. Once GoDuke.com posts the official game stats we will know for sure. FWIW, I seem to remember two turnovers by Jon a travel call and a bad pass.

I agree. Both are probably wrong. At least CBS's had guys playing more than 0 minutes though...

[Bob Green]

I agree. Both are probably wrong. At least CBS's had guys playing more than 0 minutes though...

GoDuke agrees with CBS SPorts. Scheyer had 8 assists/2 turnovers:

https://www.nmnathletics.com//pdf4/662020.pdf?ATCLID=204860244&SPSID=22724&SPID=1845&DB_OEM_ID=4200

[jv001]

Led the team with 4 blocks. Way to go Ryan. Go Duke!

[Saratoga2]

The stats at CBS Sports are unofficial just like the ones at ESPN. Once GoDuke.com posts the official game stats we will know for sure. FWIW, I seem to remember two turnovers by Jon a travel call and a bad pass.

The pass was okay to Singler, however, he stood there and let the defender come around he, leaving Jon with a turnover. I would have given it to Singler, who seemed to be out of sync.

[airowe]

The pass was okay to Singler, however, he stood there and let the defender come around he, leaving Jon with a turnover. I would have given it to Singler, who seemed to be out of sync.

Was this the pass where Singler got it stripped out from behind him at the top of the key? He clearly had possession of it. I call BS.

[basket1544]

I think Coach K gave it to Singler. Did you see how angry he was at Kyle going into that next timeout? I thought that Nolan was MotM, but I was very happy to see Ryan get involved. I also thought that Lance did a good job of keeping the freshmen settled down at the end of the game.

[dukestheheat]

...of Scheyer and Nolan Smith, but it's TIME for Nolan to step up and win one, so this one goes to SMITH! Both were stellar, however.

dth.

[Acymetric]

I didn't see the game (hoping to catch a replay at some point) so I'm going purely on stats here, and I have to give it to Jon. Nolan scored 4 more points, but took 6 more shots to get there, and also had fewer rebounds, assists, and steals than Jon. In addition, a stat that isn't actually tracked (I think it should be) came into play for me: fouls drawn. I infer by the free throw disparity that Jon got fouled more. Getting guys in foul trouble makes them either play less aggressively or get more fouls and end up fouling out. That was the key for me.

[gep]

Tough call between Nolan and Jon, but i went with Nolan. He played under control and hit some big baskets. But so did Jon. Just thought he played a little better than Jon(by that much). Go Duke!

Especially with Jon "only" at 4:1 A/TO... and "only" 20 points... :D Nolan and Jon both had very good games, and worked very well together. Must have made the PG alumni in the audience proud (ESPN article had JWill, CDuhon, GPaulus there).

[NSDukeFan]

I think Coach K gave it to Singler. Did you see how angry he was at Kyle going into that next timeout? I thought that Nolan was MotM, but I was very happy to see Ryan get involved. I also thought that Lance did a good job of keeping the freshmen settled down at the end of the game.

I think you're right. I thought I saw Collins (I think) approach him right away when the time-out was called and say something to him letting him know that wasn't acceptable.

[SupaDave]

Could Nolan and Jon be the new "Fire and Ice"? Hmmmm...

[Welcome2DaSlopes]

I perfer Wind and Fire, so when Kyle steps up we can have EARTH, WIND, AND FIRE.

[ForeverBlowingBubbles]

I perfer Wind and Fire, so when Kyle steps up we can have EARTH, WIND, AND FIRE.


due to the nature of Kyle's hair color I think he's got to be fire.

[Welcome2DaSlopes]

Point well taken, who can make this happen?


EARTH-JON(He makes this time run,he's like the engine,our centerpiece)
WIND-NOLAN(He's our fastest player and know's how to drive to the rim)
FIRE-KYLE(When's he hot it's hard to put him out, Hair Color)

[ice-9]

No ice? Seems apt for Nolan given the Titanic skit... ;)

In terms of MOTM, it's a tough call between Nolan and Jon. Nolan was the man in the second half and much more efficient in shooting (Jon actually shot poorly tonight if you take out layups from his FGs)...however, I give it to Jon.

He broke the scoring malaise and tied game in the first half with those steals -- turnovers that converted into open layups. Without that spurt and resulting momentum, we may not have won so easily. Jump shots may have remained tight.

[SupaDave]

Point well taken, who can make this happen?


EARTH-JON(He makes this time run,he's like the engine,our centerpiece)
WIND-NOLAN(He's our fastest player and know's how to drive to the rim)
FIRE-KYLE(When's he hot it's hard to put him out, Hair Color)

I hate to admit this but that does sound like a photoshop waiting to happen.

[Jumbo]

I voted for Scheyer and, while Nolan played extremely well, I'm surprised to see him winning the vote, particularly by such a wide margin. Why? Scheyer controlled the game. When Duke had a chance to run, he pushed the ball and did so efficiently (like the long pass to Nolan, rather than just dribbling off the floor). When it was time to get into a set, he did that too. He had 20 points and 8 assists and really played better than that -- I remember at least one missed layup by Thomas that would have been another assist. And he really got Smith going with his ability to drive and kick. Scheyer is really playing with the type of confidence where he believes he is the best payer on the floor, but is doing it without the cockiness of, say, J.J. It's really fun to watch.

[Heelkiller1]

I had to go with Jon . Not only did he score 20 , but he also dished out 8 asst.

[Bomar]

I went with Nolan on this one. Jon did do a lot of work for this win as well, but it was Nolan who got the ball rolling. When we were in the slump at the start Nolan finally got us some momentum, and then Scheyer fed off of that and they both went off!

[Bomar]

Also, mad props to Ryan Kelly. I was happy to see him do well in this game. I think he will develop well this season and be quite the threat next season!

[RainingThrees]

Could Nolan and Jon be the new "Fire and Ice"? Hmmmm...

I was going to say Ebony and Ivory, but if Singler can get out of this terrible offensive slump that plan won't last.

[DukieInBrasil]

Scheyer got my vote for the 8 assists + 20 pts. Nolan had an awesome game and the 3-3 3pt shooting is extremely nice, but he was benefited greatly from Jon's largesse.

[flyingdutchdevil]

I voted for Scheyer and, while Nolan played extremely well, I'm surprised to see him winning the vote, particularly by such a wide margin. Why? Scheyer controlled the game. When Duke had a chance to run, he pushed the ball and did so efficiently (like the long pass to Nolan, rather than just dribbling off the floor). When it was time to get into a set, he did that too. He had 20 points and 8 assists and really played better than that -- I remember at least one missed layup by Thomas that would have been another assist. And he really got Smith going with his ability to drive and kick. Scheyer is really playing with the type of confidence where he believes he is the best payer on the floor, but is doing it without the cockiness of, say, J.J. It's really fun to watch.

Hi Jumbo. I agree that Scheyer controlled the game, but I gave my vote to Nolan because he single-handedly got the game rolling at the 9 minute mark. I feel that he was the catalyst for that game. Scheyer is the leader and is the most important, but Nolan just had one of those games where everything he did seemed right. Plus, I think we saw some new developments from Nolan.