MBB: Duke 60, Syracuse 44 Post-Game Thread

[JBDuke]

Put your post-game thoughts here.

[weezie]

Bolden!

[WVDUKEFAN]

I agree with Weezie.

[carteretdevil]

Thought Carter had another excellent game tonight. Love his workman like attitude and how he has improved his FT % since the first of the year. He is reliable down the stretch from the line and we will need that in March.

[CameronCrazy'11]

Are we the zone version of Virginia now?

[Devilwin]

Bolden...No doubt..

[dukejim1]

For 35 minutes ugliest offensive game I have seen in 60+ years of watching Duke Basketball. Mike Tissaw, Casey Sanders, and Eric Meek could have led this team. Defense a lot more active and efficient than offense. Defense slightly better with Javin than Bagley but not near enough to say that lineup should get major minutes. My vote for MOTM may go to Bolden. I thought it was his best. ACC win always good but not fun to watch.

[accfanfrom1970]

Bolden played well, 7 and 6. Made free throws, didn't miss. Impressed.

[Troublemaker]

Are we the zone version of Virginia now?

Virginia's the m2m version of us.

[NM Duke Fan]

Bolden!

A great job with nice stats in only 12 minutes for Bolden!

This game overall was good for the team despite being hard on the eyes at times, the will to keep playing hard and well on D overall despite outside shots clanking off over and over. Such a night can happen to any team, but the D must go on! And it did. And Bagley had a nice first game back.

[DaleDuke7]

I think it was a great performance by our team. Shots were not falling for either team but I think Syracuse’s woes were more due to our defense whereas we were missing several open jumpers. I’m loving our zone defense so far. I still would like to see it against a fully healthy top tier team. Bagley was awesome and our team did a great job getting each other easy looks at the basket. Who would’ve thought Duval would be the one to hit the first three of the game for us after starting 0-15? I continue to be impressed and hopeful that we continue this track into March.

[ElSid]

Doesn't matter if we shoot 2 for a million from three when the zone keeps stifling folks.

Syracuse is not a great offensive team, but still. Boston College is worse per Kenpom and they hung 89 on us earlier.

Our D is real which completely changes our complexion.

Intensity level across the board is just different the last four or five games. That's been fun to watch. Even though this slog was largely not.

[TheOldBattleship]

Lots to talk about in this game--Bagley back with like 400 dunks, Carter continuing his impressive distribution on offense and his dominant defense in the center of the zone, nobody hitting shots from outside of the paint, and, relatedly, the fact that we still managed to get the W because the defense overall looks better and better--but I want to make sure to give Bolden another shoutout. He looked great last game, he looked great this game, and this is starting to look like a trend. When he hunts rebounds outside of his area, he's legitimately a force of a rebounder on both ends. And that dunk through contact? Man. He's still not playing a ton because we have two NBA big men in front of him, of course, but 7 and 6 on two shots in only 12 minutes is nothing to sneeze at. If he can stay aggressive and healthy, he could easily play a big role down the stretch this year. And then next year he could be a really crucial piece of the puzzle.

[rocketeli]

all those missed threes, in the home gym, and the home team ball, were weird. Did someone do some "maintenance" on the goals before the game, painting them, or new nets or something and inadvertently push them out of kilter?

[Dub]

This team is slowly becoming one of my favorite Duke teams of all time. I hate that we’ll only have them for one year, but this late season stretch is so fun to watch. The kids are having a blast and it shows. We’ve finally become a team. I hope K can keep them focused and keep the bench involved. We’re looking special now.

And our Defense. Who the heck saw this coming?!? I love how Tre was the first to hit a 3 for us today. Kid has taken a lot of heat but he doesn’t lack confidence. Overall, I’m super pumped about where we’re headed and any given night any of our starting 5 can drop 20. What a luxury to have! Let’s go Duke!

[ipatent]

Strange game, 11% from three and a comfortable win anyway. I'll take it.

[mr. synellinden]

I predict our Kenpom defense will move into the top 12.

[subzero02]

We're playing like a top 15 defense now... hope we keep it up.

[elvis14]

In the pregame thread someone predicted and ugly game. Wow were they spot on.

Happy to have won, glad we played good defense. Glad to see Marvin play well on both ends. Glad Wendell Carter is on our team!

[simplyluvin]

Considering this was really an off night offensively, it’s good to get a win from stellar defense. Good to see the defensive tenacity with Bags and getting him on an offensive groove. Did not like seeing Grayson’s offensive game revert to pre-bags injury. Worried that Grayson and MB3 are somewhat zero sum offensively. Hope I’m wrong here. Let’s see in the next two.