MBB: Duke 78, NCSU 73 Post-Game Thread

[hurleyfor3]

Whoa boy.

[FerryFor50]

This game went from home court debacle to an awesome comeback win! Discuss!

[dball]

Seth was great, playing through the ankle tweak.

[BlueDevilBaby]

Wow! Just glad ESPN showed last few minutes because ACC app did not work. Great heart, guys.

[davekay1971]

My heart really hurts for State. Kudos to our guys coming back, picking up the intensity, and getting the win. Did all the little things they didn't do at the end against FSU and Miami. But I feel for the State guys. They played really, really well and then got nervous and tight when we started coming back. They really just made those critical errors at the end. Hope State has a much better outcome for their next TWO games!

[Chris Randolph]

Dang this Duke team! Ha. Soooooo frustrating. I enjoy the comeback win but I'm still frustrated. The goal of the game is to win and Duke did. Can't complain about that. My problem is I over-react and think too much in terms of the future (how we will play in March)

Tonight I will enjoy that they came back. I called out Seth Curry going into the Va Tech game and since then he has been solid and recently superb.

[Saratoga2]

The team was sleep walking through the first half. Mason had no fouls for the first 29 minutes while we were getting badly outrebounded. Was he working hard enough? Kelly was not competitive. To his credit, Seth kept playing and turned it up a notch in the second half. It seemed to ignite both Austin and Mason, whose intensity level went up. Ryan still didn't look good in the second half, but with Leslie in the game, I guess the coach wanted him in as well. I kept wondering when Dawkins would get a shot. Seth found him for a three and he got another and missed one. Surprisingly few shots, while some of our less talented 3 point shooters were taking them instead.

Perhaps with Leslie out with foul trouble and NCS's bench pretty limited, they tired as they did against UNC. Just enough to make up a huge deficit. I didn't understand why Thornton came in and fouled the three point shooter in that circumstance. Not a very smart play at all.

Special Kudos to Seth who saved this team tonight.

[anon]

A quick request... can the people decrying the team as the worst ever midway through each game keep it up? It seems to give the team ammunition.

[lotusland]

A quick request... can the people decrying the team as the worst ever midway through each game keep it up? It seems to give the team ammunition.

Unfortunately they are all "done" with this team and won't be back until next year

[FerryFor50]

Unfortunately they are all "done" with this team and won't be back until next year

Sigh. I wish. They're already back in this thread!

[Utley]

How did we win that game?

[cbnaylor]

How did we win that game?

NC State watched the Duke UNC game last week! Go Duke. Good call by pressing them!

[throatybeard]

How did we win that game?

My friend, a State gal, bet me $20 that Duke would win win when it was 60something to 40something. Best $20 I ever spent.

[ncexnyc]

I'm just thankful I've got excellent medical coverage. Before the end of this season I'll be carted into the nearest I.C.U.

Are 40 SOLID minutes of basketball to much to ask for?

[FerryFor50]

I'm just thankful I've got excellent medical coverage. Before the end of this season I'll be carted into the nearest I.C.U.

Are 40 SOLID minutes of basketball to much to ask for?

They've done that several times this season. What, you want that EVERY game? Sheesh.

[cspan37421]

Boy am I glad I wasn't around to contribute to the in-game thread.

I hope this season isn't putting accelerated wear on Coach K, but I fear it is. It seems he is having to really get after these guys a lot, and that's something he seldom has to worry about. I don't want to say they're not playing hard for up to 40 min (31-33 tonight) - I cannot know - but that seems to be the perception. I would much rather believe it's just a matter of height, speed, on the short end of hot/cold shooting, and other non-heart things, and that the consequences of those deficiencies make it look like a lack of effort at times. But I don't know. If it was stuff largely out of their control, would K still yell at them?

[FerryFor50]

Boy am I glad I wasn't around to contribute to the in-game thread.

I hope this season isn't putting accelerated wear on Coach K, but I fear it is. It seems he is having to really get after these guys a lot, and that's something he seldom has to worry about. I don't want to say they're not playing hard for up to 40 min (31-33 tonight) - I cannot know - but that seems to be the perception. I would much rather believe it's just a matter of height, speed, on the short end of hot/cold shooting, and other non-heart things, and that the consequences of those deficiencies make it look like a lack of effort at times. But I don't know. If it was stuff largely out of their control, would K still yell at them?

From what I saw tonight he wasn't doing a lot of yelling at his players. They put in the effort. The shots just didn't fall early and then later they did.

And he fixed the defensive issues by setting up the late full court press.

[NYC Duke Fan]

Once again a poor performance at Cameron...at least in the first half. Duke will probably be a 2 seed and it would not be a great surprise if they did not survive the first weekend of the tournament.

[Billy Dat]

Once again a poor performance at Cameron...at least in the first half. Duke will probably be a 2 seed and it would not be a great surprise if they did not survive the first weekend of the tournament.

Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski:

“That was an amazing win. They thoroughly outplayed us for about 29 minutes and then we thoroughly outplayed them for 11.They were really good, and we were great in the last 11 minutes. It was really one of the more amazing games that I’ve been a part of. I thought our fans were terrific. They never let us die, I thought it was one of those games in Cameron where the fans and the players were one, and I think that was a huge part of the basketball game. Seth [Curry] was incredible, they had a hard time defending him on the wing, and he was really strong with the ball, everyone thinks of him as a shooter, but he was really strong with the ball and made plays. He [Seth Curry] and Austin [Austin], we had a couple of things that kept working and we used our timeouts judiciously instead of four minute segments kind of going in two minute segments, but not to take full time outs, just to keep the momentum, but get squared away. We got it down to one possession with under five minutes and I think we called a timeout just to tell our guys don’t press anymore, just play solid defense just so we wouldn’t foul them. We’ve had a team that’s played so hard for six and a half, seven minutes like that, our kids were able to go to another mode and they did that. They came out of timeouts really, really well. It’s really a special win, wow, special win. It’s tough to say anything else.”

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Just got home from the game! Have stuff to do before going to bed (besides posting a bunch), then I get up at 6 to leave ~7 a.m. for Ft. Lauderdale.

Who besides me thought we'd win the game when we were down 61-41? Show of hands please? Didn't think so. When it was 61-41 with Seth Curry going to the line for 3 shots, I turned to Talklady and said "this game is NOT over". About that time I also texted DD that "We Suck!". (That was strategy!) Curry calmly sank 3 to pull us within 17, and I told Talklady "see, now we're only down 17 and no time went off the clock!" Of course, y'all know we won 78-73. I love being right!

Never give up! Never, ever give up! Jim Valvano would be proud of us for last night. Not so much with his State team.