MOTM: Duke vs. Pittsburgh (Jan 19, 2015)

[JBDuke]

Who was Man of the Match in Duke's 79-65 win over Pitt?

[Duvall]

Tyus Jones is Kid Diablo in RETURN OF THE VERVE.

[gurufrisbee]

I expect Tyus to win this and he certainly is worthy, but playing so much zone you absolutely have to get big rebounding from someone since they aren't blocking out and Cook was so on top of that tonight. I loved seeing that.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Tyus got my vote, but Quinn with a double double was a close second!

[azzefkram]

Double-double from Quinn slightly edges out Tyus.

[flyingdutchdevil]

Tyus got the points. Quinn got the rebounds (and convincingly so). Sulaimon got the hot hand. Plumlee got the energy. All around, nice team play.

But I went with Okafor. Not because he had the best stats or was the most important, but because this was a huge improvement in double-team play. Arguably his best game playing in the double teams. 5 assists is very good, and he had 8-9 assists if we count "hockey" assists.

[tbyers11]

Quinn got a lot of rebounds out of the zone. Okafor passed out of the double teams well. Sheed was on fire from 3.

However, Tyus was easily the MOM for me. He played with an assertiveness and confidence (combined with strong 3 point shooting) that had been lacking in several games during the stretch of not-so-great team performances.

[AIRFORCEDUKIE]

I will keep saying this, As our freshman point guard goes, so the fortunes of this team goes. If Tyus is on his game and in attack mode keeping the defense on its heels, then good things happen on offense. If you notice when our offense isn't clicking its typically when Tyus takes his foot off the gas. I say keep the pedal to the metal kid, and keep up the good work.

[AIRFORCEDUKIE]

No votes for MP3? I was certain that his spin move leading to a hook shot would have inspired some votes.

[flyingdutchdevil]

No votes for MP3? I was certain that his spin move leading to a hook shot would have inspired some votes.

Beautiful move. A lot of players played well, including MP3.

His defense and rebounding have gotten so much better. And his FT shooting has improved so much to the extent that it is no longer a liability.

My only main concern with MP3 is his fouling. He's averaging 6.2 fouls per 40/min. He's obviously not going to play anywhere near 40 min, but there will be times (like yesterday) when Okafor will be in foul trouble and MP3 needs to stay on the court.

[duke blue brewcrew]

Tyus Jones (got my vote) needs to be hypnotized into thinking every team is a big time power team ranked in the Top 10. The kid is just on fire in big time games. I love that about him, but I hope he learns how to carry that over to the less marquis games.

[jv001]

Beautiful move. A lot of players played well, including MP3.

His defense and rebounding have gotten so much better. And his FT shooting has improved so much to the extent that it is no longer a liability.

My only main concern with MP3 is his fouling. He's averaging 6.2 fouls per 40/min. He's obviously not going to play anywhere near 40 min, but there will be times (like yesterday) when Okafor will be in foul trouble and MP3 needs to stay on the court.

It seems like Marshall comes into the game thinking I've only got 5 minutes, so I might as well make them count. He get's a lot of fouls that are not so smart fouls(didn't want to say stupid). I agree he played well yesterday and he can help us more if he'd quit fouling so much and he held onto the ball better. GoDuke!

[AIRFORCEDUKIE]

Good news is that of all of the fouls MP3 commits, they typically seem to be protecting the paint fouls and the guy doesn't make them. So at least he protects the paint and makes them earn it. I can only remember one time where he had a bad foul hedging on a screen.