MBB: Duke 78, Auburn 72 Post-Game Thread

[jipops]

Looks like we settled into the 7 man rotation already in November.

I thought our defense looked really good overall. And much of that was because of Bolden. The offense struggled especially in the 2nd but Auburn is a very good defensive team, far superior to what we saw vs. UK.

I thought for sure that K would stay small at the 8 minute mark but getting Bolden back out there was just huge. With us being unable to take care of the ball during that time his help D just saved us.

One thing this team is going to have to learn is how to use up clock. We hurried it up after getting stops and it cost us, especially against Auburn’s high turnover D. Tyus will need to reign that in.

[Duke79UNLV77]

I think K will be very happy with the win, thrilled with Bolden, but not happy about late sloppiness and some lapses when we would stretch out the lead, which may be a nice combo for this team.

[BandAlum83]

Great game and great test against a veteran top 10 team. Traditionally teams with little guards kill us and Bolden was a man in there. I think people forget that we have 4 freshman starting and they are human. There will be several moments where we’ll scratch our heads at the decisions they’ll make but they’re resilient and they won the game. Auburn is a tough team and we weren’t going to blow everybody out by 20+. We needed a tough game and I’m glad the good guys won.

FTs were bad, ball handling was a bit sloppy toward the end, and the freshmen took some bad shots but they’ll learn from it and grow from it much more than the 30 point blowouts we’ve become accustomed to. Enjoy this team folks. They’re special!

If we make only one more FT, we are over 70% for the game. 70% isn't awful.

[SCMatt33]

The thing that impressed me most today was Duke's ability to keep Auburn at arms length the entire way and never let a crazy bucket or bad turnover turn into a big run. Despite feeling tense, Auburn never actually possessed the ball down less than three possessions after the opening minutes of the game. As long as I didn't misread the play by play and forgot a possession, every time they cut it to 5 or 6, Duke immediately scored on the ensuing possession.

[wgl1228]

I don’t think we’ve played great in Maui but have beat two good teams. I still don’t get why Alex does not play more with his great shooting %.

[Faustus]

Another Al McGuire line: "The best thing about freshmen is that they will become sophomores." Ummm... not anymore, Al, not these frosh, anyway. Different world we live in. So enjoy the moment.

[moonpie23]

good thing Harper didn't have 2 more minutes....he was dialed in...

Bolden....nuff said...


oh, and missed free throws....

[jimsumner]

I still don’t get why Alex does not play more with his great shooting %.

Because the other team gets the ball.

[MartyClark]

Good tough win. Two points:

1. I'd like to see Duke run a few more offensive plays. The 5 out offense, so far, seems to rely on outside shooting. We are good at that but I'd like to see some screens and set plays to get Zion and others the ball down low, in scoring position

2. Bolden was great, this was his coming out party. Hopefully he builds on this for a big junior season.

Go Duke!

[jipops]

Auburn did not impress me. I know they are ranked 8 and any win over a top 10 team is a really good win but... this game did not look good to me. We need to play much better than that and we are capable of playing much better than that.

2016-17 and 2017-18 Duke teams would have lost this game. No way in November you would have seen the level of D needed to beat a team like this Auburn crew.

[KandG]

Weird as it sounds, I was OK when Auburn made a three to cut it to five in the second half, after we seemed to blow the game open up 16 three minutes into the second half. Good to see our team face some game pressure and keep Auburn at arm’s length through the end.

So, so happy for Bolden. Still remember when we won the ACC tournament two years ago and Bolden asked to sit with two teammates as the nets were being cut down, looking happy but clearly an afterthought with his injury. Seeing him this active on both ends, and just how good he’s become defensively, was a real thrill. As others have noted, seemed like K would go small when things got tough, but Bolden’s ability to more than hold his own on defense gave K a weapon that largely trumped whatever Pearl could throw at us.

Six turnovers in the last five minutes after we seemed to seal the game up 73-61 was not great. Nor was the free throw shooting. With that said, getting to the line as often as we did and getting their players in foul trouble was a big plus. Would like to see our offense evolve beyond isolations when things get tight, even though we have some amazingly talented players who can make big plays in isolation.

[proelitedota]

The TOs late are due to fatigue and probably inconsistent reffing.

Coaches are going to make everyone outside of Cam shoot FTs so we need to start making them.

[Dukehky]

Looks like we settled into the 7 man rotation already in November.

I thought our defense looked really good overall. And much of that was because of Bolden. The offense struggled especially in the 2nd but Auburn is a very good defensive team, far superior to what we saw vs. UK.

I thought for sure that K would stay small at the 8 minute mark but getting Bolden back out there was just huge. With us being unable to take care of the ball during that time his help D just saved us.

One thing this team is going to have to learn is how to use up clock. We hurried it up after getting stops and it cost us, especially against Auburn’s high turnover D. Tyus will need to reign that in.

Let's not get crazy. 8 men played meaningful minutes tonight and K tightened it up in the second half against a top ten team who refused to quit. Goldwire played in the first half and played okay. No reason to give Javin tons of minutes with Bolden crushing it like he was. K rides hot hands not infrequently.

AOC is the only person who can argue for minutes, but his defense just isn't up to snuff at this point. At other points in the year, he'll still get some run. I don't think this is a situation where K isn't giving people an opportunity. AOC came in and didn't play particularly well on defense, but he got his chance.

[elvis14]

Really happy to win this game. It was a bit sloppy but overall, we faced a top 10 team, struggled a bit but kept it together and moved on to the finals.

Pro: Bolden, Bolden and Bolden
Con: RJ's decision making tonight wasn't good

[OldPhiKap]

Let's not get crazy. 8 men played meaningful minutes tonight and K tightened it up in the second half against a top ten team who refused to quit. Goldwire played in the first half and played okay. No reason to give Javin tons of minutes with Bolden crushing it like he was. K rides hot hands not infrequently.

AOC is the only person who can argue for minutes, but his defense just isn't up to snuff at this point. At other points in the year, he'll still get some run. I don't think this is a situation where K isn't giving people an opportunity. AOC came in and didn't play particularly well on defense, but he got his chance.

Agree with hky as usual. Bolden was a beast, why rotate him out more than necessary? I did not think this was a plan by K, so much as recognizing in-game that when a big dog barks you keep feeding it.

[UrinalCake]

Not a very clean game for us but we still beat a top-10 team fairly comfortably. Auburn’s defense was the toughest we’ve faced this season and there will be plenty of teaching moments when the team has a chance to go through the tape. Defensively we forced them into launching bad threes, really impressive job on that end. Zion allowed that easy dunk early on and was taken out but despite struggling for much of the game he still remained engaged and came up with some big plays. Tough game but we got the W. Awesome to see Bolden have a breakout game, hope this boosts his confidence and helps him remain aggressive moving forward.

[Dukehky]

I'm going to say one more thing here that I think is more indicative of the type of season Bolden is going to have than even his incredible stats tonight would indicate...

I just watched Bolden's post game interview with ESPN. His voice was noticeably and totally hoarse. If you've watched the Earn Everything series, or listened to K talk for the past 40 years, you know the importance of communication in Duke's man to man scheme. Bolden clearly was talking tonight because his voice was worn out. That is incredible. Even if you're playing well, there's no guarantee that you're communicating, and it's kind of unlikely you would communicate to the point of losing your voice without it being a habit. If this is a habit, and Bolden is really becoming the anchor of the defense, watch out.

Side note: if Reddish stays out of foul trouble, we blow them out in the first half, he changes the dynamic of our offense with his shooting capability. If we can keep our freshmen from picking up 2 quick fouls, it's going to take a bad performance by us and a really good performance by the opponent for us to lose...

[OldPhiKap]

I'm going to say one more thing here that I think is more indicative of the type of season Bolden is going to have than even his incredible stats tonight would indicate...

I just watched Bolden's post game interview with ESPN. His voice was noticeably and totally hoarse. If you've watched the Earn Everything series, or listened to K talk for the past 40 years, you know the importance of communication in Duke's man to man scheme. Bolden clearly was talking tonight because his voice was worn out. That is incredible. Even if you're playing well, there's no guarantee that you're communicating, and it's kind of unlikely you would communicate to the point of losing your voice without it being a habit. If this is a habit, and Bolden is really becoming the anchor of the defense, watch out.

Great point, and especially important given his position. I recall K saying how important Battier was to the defense, being mainly on the back line.

The center has the best defensive view in many circumstances. A defense with a vocal center is a blessing.

[Dukehky]

Great point, and especially important given his position. I recall K saying how important Battier was to the defense, being mainly on the back line.

The center has the best defensive view in many circumstances. A defense with a vocal center is a blessing.

I kind of wonder if he's making a case to be added as a captain? I feel like adding a player as a captain midseason isn't unheard of. Not that Javin and Jack haven't been great (mostly Jack because he's been on the court way more and has been much, much better), but it would be cool to have a captain as a starter if he earned it.

[Edouble]

I'm going to say one more thing here that I think is more indicative of the type of season Bolden is going to have than even his incredible stats tonight would indicate...

I just watched Bolden's post game interview with ESPN. His voice was noticeably and totally hoarse. If you've watched the Earn Everything series, or listened to K talk for the past 40 years, you know the importance of communication in Duke's man to man scheme. Bolden clearly was talking tonight because his voice was worn out. That is incredible. Even if you're playing well, there's no guarantee that you're communicating, and it's kind of unlikely you would communicate to the point of losing your voice without it being a habit. If this is a habit, and Bolden is really becoming the anchor of the defense, watch out.

Side note: if Reddish stays out of foul trouble, we blow them out in the first half, he changes the dynamic of our offense with his shooting capability. If we can keep our freshmen from picking up 2 quick fouls, it's going to take a bad performance by us and a really good performance by the opponent for us to lose...

Great point, and especially important given his position. I recall K saying how important Battier was to the defense, being mainly on the back line.

The center has the best defensive view in many circumstances. A defense with a vocal center is a blessing.

But Battier's voice was never hoarse in post game interviews.

I heard Bolden's interview and I disagree. I thought his voice was just low, not hoarse. Totally hoarse? I guess we really heard it different, but it just sounded like your typical huge 7' dude who has a really low voice.