Post your thoughts here.
Post your thoughts here.
Just be you. You is enough. - K, 4/5/10, 0:13.8 to play, 60-59 Duke.
You're all jealous hypocrites. - Titus on Laettner
You see those guys? Animals. They're animals. - SIU Coach Chris Lowery, on Duke
Execution was off tonight. But big props for Kelly, all around he played a nice game.
Not a whole lot of pretty basketball tonight and it was made frustrating by the fouls and bad bounces for Kyle. ACC road win....next play.
An ugly, ugly win. I hope the view from the Nolan Cam was better.
While I agree tonight's game was not aesthetically pleasing, our half court defense was impressive.
Bob Green
This game had as much flow as going to the dentist. A really bad dentist.
Yep - this game was won on the boards. Great job by the bigs - Kelly and the Plumlees as well as Nolan with 7 rebounds.
The game was kind of boring after the first five minutes, when it became clear that we were likely to win. I liked some of Nolan's plays, however.
For the first 5 minutes it seemed like a contest to see who could play the worst basketball. Lots of silly turnovers by both clubs. It seemed the bug even got into Kyle and Nolan.
It took Nolan some time but he finally settled down and then was the best player on the floor and the reason we won.
Kyle remained in a funk for the entire game. Usually Nolan and Kyle combined get 40 points, tonight it was 24 when you throw in 2 by Kyle. Jay Williams made it clear he didn't think Kyle's game has been at All American level and watching this game certainly makes you wonder what was going on with him.
I did think our half court defense improved in the second half and that helped to frustrate Virginia's offense. Ryan blocked shots and altered others. He also showed an inside presence finding ways to put up 11. Had they looked for him more he probably could have raised his point total. I also think Mason had a good game and clearly had the height and athletic ability advantage inside.
While Seth has steadily progressed, this game was not one of his best. I thought he was forcing his offense and was challenged handling the ball. Saying that, he still was important to our success. Dre has not really turned the corner yet either. Kind of passive on offense, however quick to put up a three when perhaps there were other options.
All in all, I think this game marked a regression in our play and hope they get it out of their skins before we face VT and UNC again.
First off: incredible defense all night. great defensive game
second off: horrible offense in the second half...we scored 20 pts in the half...that's horrid
that said, this worries me that we're still having these offensive woes...long stretches (5-10 minutes at a time) have already heavily contributed to two losses and have appeared in several other games (including both against virginia). It seemed nolan was running the point more (but i wasn't paying super close attention as the uconn game was slightly more highly contested), but games like this worry me come tournament time...when a St. Johns will come along and score more than 13 points in the second half
1200. DDMF.
obviously it won't happen too often, but he was in a funk today and the team didn't find a way to score points despite it....yeah they won...against a crummy virginia team. My point is that they need to find a way to perform on the offensive end when either the 3's aren't falling, or kyle is off, or whatever...last year they showed they could do that...i don't know if this years team with this performance from singler would win a game like the baylor game from last year...i honestly don't, and that's scary
1200. DDMF.
I would not say this was an ugly win. I would say this was more like grinding it out on the last 9 holes.
~rthomas
Wow that was an ugly win. Very ugly. I feel weird saying I'm disappointed after a 15 point win but I am. Thank goodness UVa couldn't hit an open jumper tonight. On the positive side, I really liked the game Ryan played tonight. Thought we should have ran some more sets where we posted him up on the 6'4" guys guarding him.
It's probably time for a "What's wrong with Kyle" thread. For weeks I've read excuses but the bottom line is that right now he's not shooting well at all. Tonight he was pretty bad with the ball in his hands. I don't say that to be overly negative. I was shocked at what was going on with Kyle tonight (and really against UNC@CH as well). I know coach K has made adjustments in the past to help Kyle get started and right now he needs something. We need him to be a major part of the offense to make a real run at the NCAA's.
Many thought this could be a trap game and in a sense it may have been. We didn't get any offense from Kyle, Seth had a little drop in his stellar play and the turnovers were bad. But there were some good things to take away from this game. Nolan once again played well. 22 points in a low scoring game like this is big. Throw in 7 rebounds and 4 assists and you have a very good game. Ryan also played very well with 11 points, 5 rebounds and at least 4 blocks. Mason and Miles played well in a game where they were doubled almost everytime they received the ball. Virginia usually keeps the game in the
50s. So next play. Go Duke!
As good numbers and great defense as Nolan plays is part of Kyle scoring and lack of a 3rd outside option partially on Nolan? It may sound weird but multiple times today Nolan drove into the lane made multiple moves, put up a contested shot with one of Kyle, Seth, Dre or Kelly wide open spotted up for a shot. I have noticed this in other games but it was quite apparent in the 2nd half today when they were collapsing on him, before we went into the spread at the end of the game.