MBB: Duke 85, NDSU 62 Post-Game Thread (Rd of 64)

[Indoor66]

Sometime posted a similar pic earlier in the season in a similar situation but Zion’s enthusiasm for his teammates is a real joy to watch. Not sure who is having more fun in this picture. Team chemistry seems special this year.

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An incredible picture. Thanks for sharing.

[budwom]

apropos of not much, I think I have discerned that the farther Javin gets from the basket, the more apt he is to foul...interesting for a big man. (he's been playing well I should add).

[DukeBlueHeart4]

I followed the game as well as I could but wasn't able to actually watch it live (tickets for Trevor Noah purchased months ago created a little conflict). Does anyone know where I can watch a replay of the game?

[devildeac]

Sometime posted a similar pic earlier in the season in a similar situation but Zion’s enthusiasm for his teammates is a real joy to watch. Not sure who is having more fun in this picture. Team chemistry seems special this year.

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[WVDUKEFAN]

Defense was stifling the 1st 10 minutes of the second half. Loved it.

[DukieInBrasil]

I really hope that the game plan for the next game explicitly excludes all 3pt shots until after scoring at least 5 buckets from 2. This team needs to stop looking to "get things going" by shooting the 3. They need to do the opposite, and get things going before looking to shoot the 3. Last night, after stopping themselves from jacking up 3s early, let it simmer, and then in the 2nd half, after having put quite a few 2pt shots down, began sinking their 3s. Ended the game shooting 42%, which is fabulous for this team. Also, let's congratulate Joey Baker for his 1st collegiate points, aptly enough on a 3pt shot. Fwiw (which may not be much) i think that vindicates "burning" his red-shirt. I also hope that it opens the lid on the rim for him and that he makes another shot or 2 this year.
I know others have pointed it out (including the podcasters), but that poke away steal, behind the back dribble, slip and prop himself up by one hand and continue on for a smooth layup was an amazing play.
If Zion and RJ keep up their tandem work (efficiency + versatility) with adequate contributions from the rest of the team (such as Cam's effort last night), this team can win the whole thing.
Also, i haven't been the biggest Cam Reddish fan lately, but his line from last night was decent, although against an opponent he should have absolutely overwhelmed. 12 pts on 3-9 FGs, 2-6 from 3, 4-3-2-1 r-a-s-b. That's a solid line, particularly only having 1 turnover. We'll need more like that going forward, but against increasingly better teams.

[Steven43]

I really hope that the game plan for the next game explicitly excludes all 3pt shots until after scoring at least 5 buckets from 2. This team needs to stop looking to "get things going" by shooting the 3. They need to do the opposite, and get things going before looking to shoot the 3. Last night, after stopping themselves from jacking up 3s early, let it simmer, and then in the 2nd half, after having put quite a few 2pt shots down, began sinking their 3s. Ended the game shooting 42%, which is fabulous for this team. Also, let's congratulate Joey Baker for his 1st collegiate points, aptly enough on a 3pt shot. Fwiw (which may not be much) i think that vindicates "burning" his red-shirt. I also hope that it opens the lid on the rim for him and that he makes another shot or 2 this year.
I know others have pointed it out (including the podcasters), but that poke away steal, behind the back dribble, slip and prop himself up by one hand and continue on for a smooth layup was an amazing play.
If Zion and RJ keep up their tandem work (efficiency + versatility) with adequate contributions from the rest of the team (such as Cam's effort last night), this team can win the whole thing.
Also, i haven't been the biggest Cam Reddish fan lately, but his line from last night was decent, although against an opponent he should have absolutely overwhelmed. 12 pts on 3-9 FGs, 2-6 from 3, 4-3-2-1 r-a-s-b. That's a solid line, particularly only having 1 turnover. We'll need more like that going forward, but against increasingly better teams.

Great post. Love your idea of going inside repeatedly to start the game. You get some points on the board, loosen up, and get into the flow of the game. Can’t afford to get in a hole like last night because of missed 3’s — and we all know this team almost never starts off a game shooting well from Three.

Duke has the nation’s greatest inside-scoring weapon with Zion. USE HIM. Set the tone of physicality and inside dominance right from the start. And then take the luxury of trying some 3’s. This team just seems to shoot better from outside when they are ahead and feeling loose.

[TKG]

Cam’s mid range game seems to be strong. Maybe it’s my lying eyes but given his size and athleticism he can get that 15 - 18 foot jumper almost at will. I wish he would rely on it a bit more.

[DU82]

This picture has gone viral. Just look at the pure joy for one’s teammate - let alone the appearance of Z walking on air (and the beauty of the picture itself - the symmetry).

Love it.

The new Nike shoes are working.

[proelitedota]

Even if the mid-range is supposedly the most inefficient shot in basketball, in our case it has to be better than our 3s. Tre, Cam, RJ are all money from the mid range.

But I wouldn't mind shooting 42% from 3 this game again.

[devildeac]

The new Nike shoes are working.

Air Zions?

[niveklaen]

Even if the mid-range is supposedly the most inefficient shot in basketball, in our case it has to be better than our 3s. Tre, Cam, RJ are all money from the mid range.

But I wouldn't mind shooting 42% from 3 this game again.

maybe they are Venezuelan Bolivar's fro mid range

according to Hoop-math, our mid range shooting is:
Tre 36% (24% from 3)
Cam 28% (32% from 3)
RJ 38% (30% from 3)

http://www.hoop-math.com/Duke2019.php

Looks like Tre would benefit from taking more mid range shots (24% from 3), but
Cam actually shoots better from 3 than the mid-range and given his proclivity for turnovers, the 3 is definitely a better shot for him.
For RJ it looks like a wash - maybe drawn fouls and offensive rebounds make mid range shots more effective for him...

[Kedsy]

maybe they are Venezuelan Bolivar's fro mid range

according to Hoop-math, our mid range shooting is:
Tre 36% (24% from 3)
Cam 28% (32% from 3)
RJ 38% (30% from 3)

http://www.hoop-math.com/Duke2019.php

Looks like Tre would benefit from taking more mid range shots (24% from 3), but
Cam actually shoots better from 3 than the mid-range and given his proclivity for turnovers, the 3 is definitely a better shot for him.
For RJ it looks like a wash - maybe drawn fouls and offensive rebounds make mid range shots more effective for him...

Since you get three points from threes and only two points from twos, even Tre is just a wash with those numbers.

[subzero02]

This picture has gone viral. Just look at the pure joy for one’s teammate - let alone the appearance of Z walking on air (and the beauty of the picture itself - the symmetry).

Love it.

I know that he wasn't but it looks like Zion was cut and pasted into that photo

[construe]

(TL;DR: love it when Zion gets a back-screen or does a “flex cut” (maybe?) to iso on the low-post…this is Duke’s most unstoppable offense and, should we get past the big fella at UCF, I hope to see it early and often going forward…)

Most folks have noted that our offense started off poor against NDSU. Coach often seems to let his starters play and figure things out, and will only call sets once things get rocky (or we put in bench players). I personally find this frustrating, as I’d like to see more discipline in our offense, but K’s won 1000+ games more than I have, so…

K correctly identified the biggest issue in the 1st half: settling for jump shots or 3-ptrs (esp as we’re not a good 3pt shooting team). I know that Zion will need to play all over the court at the next level, but for now, he is most dominant on the low block. He’s almost as quick as Antawn Jamison getting off his shot (different players really, as Jamison waited for entry passes, the immediately spun to the basket, while Zion often dribbles more…) Anyway, it was -very- frustrating to see Zion drifting on the perimeter and the overall poor 1-on-1 play from Duke.

The obvious solution in the 2nd half, which Duke immediately went to, was to get Zion the ball on the low block. I was very curious to see the sets they ran to get him the ball. It seems like the one they used in the NDSU game was to have whoever’s bringing up the ball pass to a wing, while Ques or Javin backscreen Zion’s man at the high-block area. Zion then goes low and receives a pass from the wing, and the lane is cleared out a little for him to do his magic.

Not sure if that set will work against UCF and Tacko Grande, but I -love- it when Zion gets the ball in the low-post…he really is unstoppable there at the college level (either spins & scores with his amazing soft finger-roll lay-ups or gets fouled).

During the ACC tourney, I saw what I think was a “flex cut” by Zion to get him a isolated on the low-block (or maybe they were just low-block backscreens?). Maryland used to run that play during the Williams’ era. Again, if we get past UCF, I hope to see a lot more of these types of plays for Zion.

As for later in the 2nd half, once the bench came in, Duke ran “floppy” a number of times to get AOC or Joey open for a jumper. This makes sense for those players, but man, they’re just not the high percentage shots that Zion creates. (btw, I almost typed in “Luke” for AOC there…floppy was factory-designed for Luke’s diverse skills…)

If I was any good like Troublemaker, I’d make gifs of some of these plays to identify what I’m talking about. Curious to see what we’ll do against UCF this evening!

[BandAlum83]

We stunk the first 4 minutes of the game. Took bad shots, let NDSU get good looks. The score at the under-16 break reflected that. Afterwards, our defense became stifling until the regulars began filtering out midway through the second half. The offense remained shaky for the rest of the first half, though, and we had only a small lead at the half. And then the second half started, and Zion took over. His play in the first several possessions of the second half sent a message that we were not going to lose this game. And the team followed suit thereafter.

The play where he tipped a pass away from Shahid, then outraced Shahid to the ball, then gathered it, then changed directions and went behind his back at nearly full speed (resulting in a slip), then recovered for a layup was unreal. That cemented things in my mind. The rest was a formality. He had broken them, and the flood gates opened. And boy did they open.

Hopefully this game shook off any nerves for the team so that we can push past UCF and head to the second weekend.

I’m not so sure we took bad shots in the first four minutes. It’s true, we took a bunch of threes, but they were open looks.

Is it just me, or do others think that maybe it is a specific game plan of ours to take a bunch of early threes to soften up their defense? When we hit, the route is I. (Like against Ky) when they don’t, we grind to take control over time.

It seems to be pretty common for us to take those early 3s, but don’t have specific data.

[AZLA]

Cam’s mid range game seems to be strong. Maybe it’s my lying eyes but given his size and athleticism he can get that 15 - 18 foot jumper almost at will. I wish he would rely on it a bit more.

Agreed. More mid range. Same for Tre and RJ.

[brevity]

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NCAA.com: Meet the photographer who took that Barrett-Zion photo. He’s a UNC grad.

“And all of sudden I notice Zion in the background and he literally looks like he’s levitating like 20 feet off the floor. It looks absolutely unreal. I knew immediately that was going to be a great frame, but I didn’t realize it was going to be this big.”

He played in Carolina’s marching band when Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison played. He’s based in Atlanta and still sees Carter, a Hawks veteran, at work. This was his first Duke game because they did not play at Georgia Tech.