MBB: Duke 85, UAB 64 Post Game Thread

[Kedsy]

The Bad: The team couldn't pull away for the 2nd straight game, though they at least won the second half.

I'm not buying this. Was there any moment after we jumped out to a 26-4 lead that you thought the outcome was in doubt? Was there any moment against Miami after the Nolan 13-2 run that you thought the outcome of that game was in doubt?

Because, in my mind, if the outcome isn't in doubt then we did pull away.

Seth Curry seemed oddly enough to be in Ks doghouse, not playing for a good bit of the first half and then not being in for a good bit of the second. Not sure why that was the case. He did go 2-3 with 5 points when in the game.

Seth averages 20.5 minutes a game, and tonight he played 24. It doesn't seem to me that he was benched for an inordinate length of time nor that he's in anybody's "doghouse."

Miles...returned to hacking Miles.

I was a bit disappointed in Miles picking up so many fouls so early, but to my eyes only one of them seemed especially avoidable. I actually thought Miles played reasonably well when he managed to stay on the floor. And I don't think there was any kind of regression out there, he just got caught on his fouls tonight.

But after that, it was like a different team on defense. Too many open shots.

I think when you get that big a lead that early, it's difficult to keep up your intensity. The team clearly seemed to take their collective foot off the gas pedal, especially on defense, but I wouldn't be so hard on them. They may have blown UAB out the first few minutes and then coasted the rest of the way, but the game was never in doubt and it was a good win.

Kyle is still struggling but he is just missing - hopefully he will work out the kinks.

Kyle missed a lot of shots in the 2nd half tonight (he actually shot pretty well during the brief time when it mattered), but I didn't feel he was struggling at all. He took two shots that I thought were ill-advised, but overall I thought his game was strong tonight.

We seemed to run a lot more plays for the bigs tonight, perhaps because we had a size advantage. Mason was a big beneficiary. We set him up both on the wing and on the block and he really finished well.

We were all thinking that Mason's "problem" was he didn't have Kyrie setting him up these past few games. But maybe he just has to have plays run for him (as he did in his big game against Marquette and again tonight) and isn't as good when he has to freelance.

Or maybe he wasn't really having problems the past few games; he just wasn't scoring. Scoring isn't everything, and I think a lot of times many of us seem to (erroneously) equate scoring with how well a player plays.