Duke vs. Rhode Island postgame thread

[Jumbo]

Duke prevails, 82-79. Discuss.

[Bluedog]

Need to improve our D. Understatement of the day. Probably will miss Dmarc a lot more on the defensive end than offensive end. Although Baron was also completely on fire even when well defended. It'll be interesting to see our adjustments against SIU. Free throws saved us. Nice to see that improve from our previous game. Scheyer/Singler saved us. Only 4 assists from all the guards on our team. Need to improve that number dramatically.

[nyr484]

This game definitely answered some questions. LT is our go-to guy in the post right now. So much for Miles starting. I don't think he played at all tonight.

And as for crunch time lineups... For offense: Smith, Scheyer, Henderson, Singler, Thomas. For defense, switch Henderson for McClure. For FT shooting, switch Henderson for Paulus.

That guy Baron was ridiculous. I thought our defense looked a little vulnerable, but I think we were so keyed in to trying to lock up Baron that it opened things up for some of their other players. Rhode Island looked like a team that should make the tournament.

[Dawun]

I just got back from the URI v. Duke game. That was one of the most intense game I've ever been to. Jimmy Baron lit the nets on fire. Good win for our devils. Kyle Singler and Scheyer stepped up. I have my criticisms of the team, but I'm going to savor the victory for now. Great game!

[wilko]

uuuhm... with all due respect WTF just happened?

I was listening to a steraming broadcast so I really dont have a good feel at all. It sure was painted that that RI had the game of a lifetime..

But really... were they THAT good? or were we THAT bad?

Well, either way this is a GREAT game to win and maybe this will help the team to come together to top form with some urgency and purpose.

Cant wait to see how the team reacts...

Congrats to Rhode Island... looks like they are on tap of a heck of a year...

[dukebluelemur]

Apart from LT and his season .273 average for the year, the team shot 28-30 from FT, good sign.

Almost as impressive as 8-9 from three

Gerald who? Foul trouble slowed him a bit, but once again, just brief flashes of what we dream of him doing consistently.

Paulus didnt do much off the bench either.

Thank god for "Singuler"/Scheyer.

[BlueintheFace]

1) I didn't know JJ Redick got plastic surgery and enrolled at URI... how did DBR miss that

2) Jon really dragged us back in to that game with smart drives and ridiculous finishes

3) Kyle is amazing as always and the free throws were incredibly clutch (makes me feel warm and fuzzy about close games in march)

4) I am starting to notice a trend in G over the last few years. Gerald only plays pro-active dominant ball when the energy is high and the game is close. The rest of the time he seems content to take what is given to him through ball movement. Unfortunately today, when he started to feel that intensity and make the plays we wish he would make all the time, he had to deal with foul problems

5) I wasn't paying close enough attention, does somebody have a rundown of our personnel in the last 4 minutes? This game should at least partially answer most people's question of how we will deal with close game situations at the end...

[BlueintheFace]

Apart from LT and his season .273 average for the year

Lance is on the baseball team??

[huied]

I can forgive our defense for the most part because someone shooting lights out isn't something you can really defend. But that doesn't excuse our poor showing on offense in the first half. Something like 2-14 at one point? That's not going to get us far in March.

[Jumbo]

I guess I'll respond to myself. Obviously, this was closer than anyone would have liked. Obviously, we had to play our key guys more than we would have liked (I think Scheyer played the entire second half). Obviously, there are some concerns.

But, first, give Rhode Island some credit. They shot out of their minds. I knew Jimmy Baron was a great shooter, but some of those threes he hit ... geez. Scheyer had this look on his face after that just said "What am I supposed to do?" He was as close to Baron as he could get, had a hand in his face, and Baron still got off fadeaway threes with that quick release. Unreal. Those were not the result of defensive breakdowns. Those were just ridiculous shots. And a number of other Rhode Island players shot better than anyone would have expected.

Duke's problems really varied by half. In the first half, the defense wasn't awful. Rhode Island got a few too many buckets in transition, but also hit some tough jumpers. Duke, on the other hand, rushed on offense, didn't move the ball, didn't spread the floor.

Duke's offense was great in the second half, by comparison. Basically, it consisted of running everything through Scheyer and Singler (who are clearly the two best players on the team right now), and they delivered. Thomas played really well in a supporting role.

The D in the second half, by contrast, was lousy. I'm not talking about on Baron, but everything. The pick and roll D was poor. The help D was really poor. The ball pressure didn't do anything to disrupt Rhode Island's flow or force turnovers. The transition D was really lacking.

There's a lot to work on. But, at least Duke showed that it could execute down te stretch of a tight game. Let's learn what we can from this and move on.

Also, I really hope people don't complain about the PT for Elliot and Plumlee. Elliot has looked lost so far this year, and this wasn't the game to break him in. And Plumlee has struggled similarly, didn't match up well with a smaller, quicker Rhode Island team, and didn't play well in his brief appearance.

On to New York!

[Jumbo]

5) I wasn't paying close enough attention, does somebody have a rundown of our personnel in the last 4 minutes? This game should at least partially answer most people's question of how we will deal with close game situations at the end...

Here you go. To be fair, Henderson was in foul trouble, and matchups dictated some of what we saw (small Rhode Island team = more opportunities for Thomas/McClure), plus Paulus was really struggling.

Smith-Scheyer-Henderson-Singler-Thomas
55-62
57-62
57-64
59-64
61-64
61-66
63-66
63-67
63-68
65-68
65-71
68-71
Smith-Scheyer-McClure-Singler-Thomas
68-74
70-74
71-74
72-74
72-77
73-77
74-77
Smith-Scheyer-Henderson-Singler-Thomas
76-77
Smith-Scheyer-McClure-Singler-Thomas
77-77
78-77
78-78
78-79
Smith-Scheyer-Henderson-Singler-Thomas
79-79
80-79
Smith-Scheyer-McClure-Singler-Thomas
Smith-Paulus-Scheyer-Henderson-Singler
81-79
82-79
Smith-Scheyer-Henderson-Singler-Thomas
FINAL

[trinity92]

Holy Moly that was one of the best games I've ever seen. I have never seen a guy make shot after shot like that.

Got to say, I think we played decent defense, but they just showed great patience and shot out of their minds. They played very solid defense too.

Well coached + athletic + insane shooting night= good Duke win that could have gone the other way. I think Singler fouled on the last shot (on the follow-through). Glad it wasn't called.

I think styles make fights, and this one was just set up to be a really tough game. We played a good game and so did they. I wouldn't ask too many soul-searching questions about our team, program, or anything else.

BTW, I really liked the announcing team on the ESPNU broadcast. The older guy seemed to know what he was talking about.

[jkidd31]

I'd much rather see them play a team from a mid major (although the A-10 is one of the better conferences IMO) and get tested then play some directional school and win by 30. I'll agree with Jombo, the D was lacking in the 2nd half, except for the last 4 minutes where they seemed to tighten up. And BAron was unreal in the 2nd half. Some of those shots were very JJ'esque.

[Chard]

At least you guys got to watch the game. Here I am at 7 expecting a game to watch and I find out it has already been played. That'll teach me to rely on the schedule DBR posted.

[nyr484]

By the way, Paulus clocked only 11 minutes, and seemed completely incapable of guarding the quicker URI guards.

[Cavlaw]

The stat that got my attention was that with about 7 minutes to go, the commentators noted that RI was shooting 80% in the second half. Some of that is bad defense, but even bad defense doesn't usually yield a shooting percentage that high. RI was shooting it incredibly well the entire game, which helped them keep the lead despite a fair number of turnovers.

[slower]

BTW, I really liked the announcing team on the ESPNU broadcast. The older guy seemed to know what he was talking about.

Seriously? I thought they were pathetic. And these guys LIVE in Durham! Bucky Waters used to freaking coach Duke. But you REALLY thought they knew their stuff? Wow.

And here's a new drinking game: Take a drink every time somebody says that Player X "has no conscience" (used to describe 3-pt. shooter). Gonna be a long year. Guess I need to start listening to Bob Harris while watching.

Scheyer saved the day. Singler, as always, was money. Good game for Lance. I even thought that Zoubs played well in stretches. URI played very well and shot VERY well. Duke definitely was "out-quicked" for the most part.

[BlueintheFace]

By the way, Paulus clocked only 11 minutes, and seemed completely incapable of guarding the quicker URI guards.

I have no idea where you get that from... he forced a few turnovers and only got beat off the dribble once. Still, it is obvious that Nolan is a great asset on defense at the end.

[LetItBD08]

BTW, I really liked the announcing team on the ESPNU broadcast. The older guy seemed to know what he was talking about.

Older guy=Bucky Waters, Duke Basketball Coach from '69-'73. He sits on press row for a lot of games when he's in town. Really great guy to talk to.

[KandG]

As I said earlier in the chat, if I turned on the TV and didn't know which team was ranked, I would have assumed it was the team in blue (wrong shade of blue, of course ). URI was moving the ball effortlessly, penetrating effortlessly, getting every loose ball, finding open cutters, and the few times we did play good D, they made outrageous shots. Everyone will talk about the shots Baron made, but for a good part of the second half, they were beating up and down the floor constantly.

I honestly didn't recognize the Duke team out there. I know our identity is a work in progress, and URI truly played lights out, but Scheyer and Singler were the only ones who really seemed up to the moment. Thank goodness that was enough to pull this one out.