MBB: Duke 90, Wake Forest 70 Post-Game Thread

[Jumbo]

Let's talk it out.

[Lulu]

It's too bad the refs gave that game to us with the intentional foul call. Glad the announcers, at least Brando, picked up on it - right through to the end, too.

[Ultrarunner]

but I'm glad we don't appear to have any major injuries. A couple of those falls were scary.

[jipops]

A great, entertaining ACC battle. No lack of toughness in our guys. Miles will probably get most of the pub from this one but major shouts to Nolan Smith to his ridiculously great D on Ish Smith who was held to no points in the 2nd half. Much due to Duke's excellent switches, but Ish was Nolan's assignment.

[rthomas]

A hockey game against thugs. Is this what Wake has become?

[Sgt. Dingleberry]

I thought that was a big coming out party of the Plumlees...Their confidence is building and that is directly proportional to the quality of their play...

Kyle turned it up in the second half and played well, I hope he can can build off of that effort...

[Greg_Newton]

Great, great effort. That was a Sweet 16 game right there. I'm exhausted just from watching it.

I just hope everyone is okay... I'm especially praying that Mason's back isn't an issue, because that's a hard thing to get over. Kyle's wrist, Andre's ankle, and whatever had Jon grimacing also scared me a little bit... hopefully everyone can rest up and get better.

[Misunderestimated]

I feel like I'm going to wake up sore in the morning.

[CameronDuke]

If I hear Mike Gminski's partner commentator (was it Tim Brando) say that the intentional foul on Mason Plumlee was the turning point of the game and the implication that Duke won ONE MORE TIME, I think I am going to puke. Breakout game for Miles Plumlee, Singler is a warrior though he didn't shoot particularily well, Nolan continues to have a breakout year, and Mason Plumlee will be a STAR for Duke in the next few years. Never been prouder of a team's effort! Let's Go Duke!

[wisteria]

A MEN's game tonight! The Plumlee brothers claimed their arrival to the ACC.

I got so emotional that I got banned at TDD.

The turning point IMO was in the 2nd half when WF pulled even. Singler hit a 3 right away, and we got a defensive stop. Scheyer converted a 2+1, and Mason got SLAMed resulting in 2 free throws. Completely shifted the momentum, and we pulled away.

Singler is tough as nails. When he airballed that freethrow, you just knew that he was banged up pretty badly. Hope both him and Mason are OK. The entirely team may need a few days to recover from this murderous fight.

[gwwilburn]

What I take away: Scheyer has his second "bad" game, this time shooting 3-11, but Kyle, Nolan, MPI, and MPII stepped up big. Nice D, but Lance needs to stay out of foul trouble if we are going to stay in lock down mode.

[Saratoga2]

This was the most physical game of the year. Good for us that we had Miles and Mason. Miles in particular showed what he can do for us around the basket, both in low post scoring and rebounding. Miles also looked solid and his game is coming together well. I hope he doesn't have a hip pointer after that fall.

It was a game where the big three didn't do all that much in the first half. Singler and Smith really stepped it up in the second half.

To beat Wake by 20 points in this game is a reflection of what our bigs can offer. I believe Miles had 19 and 15 rebounds while Mason must have had a dozen and Zoubek chipped in for 3 or 4, while Thomas had 4 as well. That is close to 40 points from our bigs. Put that together with a good Singler and Smith game and an okay Scheyer game and we scored 90 points.

The 3 point game wasn't there for us that much tonight, but this is the second game in a row where the 3 point shot was not that important.

[CAT Blue Devil]

Was it just me or was Coach K's demeanor significantly icy at WF as he shook hands after the game? Not that I blame him, pretty rough game. Very solid win that I don't think happens without some great toughness across the board by the devils.

[Exiled_Devil]

A hockey game against thugs. Is this what Wake has become?

They've been like that for at least 10 years.

This happens to me every year - I spend 8 months thinking Wake isn't so bad, becuase they are part of Tobacco Road. And then they commence to physically attack our players for a game and hurt someone. Ugh.

Also, did anyone notice that McFarlane's rebounding strategy involved one hand reaching for the ball and one hand on a Duke player's shoulder? That really irritated me with them calling over the back on us. Isn't holding the shoulder down over the back by definition?

[CDu]

It always seems to be physical against Wake. This was no different. Hopefully Singler and Mason will be okay once the adrenaline wears off. They took some rough falls for sure.

Unbelievable first halves from the Plumlee brothers. They were just a force on the offensive glass. Mason's reverse dunk will get a lot of pub, but Miles was just such a force early in the game. Mason was no slouch either.

Singler didn't shoot well, but he was such a force on the boards. He really took off late in the second half when he got switched to the four offensively. You could just see his eyes light up as he took the Wake bigs to the hole a few times.

Nolan Smith (along with great help defense) did a great job on Ish Smith. He's been so big for Wake this year, and we took him completely away.

It's nice to have so many big bodies. We were in horrible foul trouble up front throughout the game, but we had waves of bigs. It was nice to see us go small with Singler at the 4 to steal some minutes for our bigs.

It's nice to win big even though our big three all had fairly poor shooting games. I'm very excited about the progress of the Plumlees. Getting 30 and 21 from them was amazing. Obviously that's not going to happen a lot, but if they can keep progressing we look REALLY good.

[Cameron]

A hockey game against thugs. Is this what Wake has become?

It's not a question of have they become this as much as it is for how long. Chase and his past buddies have been doing this for quite awhile.

Great, scrapped out win tonight for our boys. This is a game that we would have lost a year ago, and that impresses this Duke fan. To paraphrase Yul Brenner, we're a bad *** team that ain't gonna take no **** from nobody.

We've got a long way to go to be a legit national title contender, but we can get there, and do so this year. This team has the goods; it's just a matter of perfecting our craft. If we can get everyone on the same page, and the Brothers Plumlee continue to improve, we're going places.

Go Duke!

[SCMatt33]

I think its great that we face a team known for inside play and beat them on the inside.

[superdave]

We won by 20 so no intentional foul call decided this one. Thanks.

[Bluedevil114]

If I hear Mike Gminski's partner commentator (was it Tim Brando) say that the intentional foul on Mason Plumlee was the turning point of the game and the implication that Duke won ONE MORE TIME, I think I am going to puke. Breakout game for Miles Plumlee, Singler is a warrior though he didn't shoot particularily well, Nolan continues to have a breakout year, and Mason Plumlee will be a STAR for Duke in the next few years. Never been prouder of a team's effort! Let's Go Duke!

I agree...when you win by 20 points it does not come down to one extra possession for the intentional foul. The turning point was Singler got going in the second half, Nolan is a beast and Ish Smith was shut out in the second half.

I really hope Singler is OK. His wrist was bothering him the rest of the game and afterwards in his post game interview.

[Welcome2DaSlopes]

Can we stop saying it was a Plumlee coming out party? We have been saying that the last 5 games.