MBB: Duke 77, Va Tech 63 Post-Game Thread

[UrinalCake]

Another thing I really liked is that even though we were hitting threes early, we didn’t just keep jacking them up despite falling behind. We recognized that the only way to win would be to attack the rim. And we still kept hitting threes 8-).

[arnie]

Weird stats: we shot more 3s, they out rebounded us, we were 10 of 10 from the line.

[BandAlum83]

Great contributions from everyone. Really good Goldwire game. It's a good matchup for him, and his athleticism and physicality were huge.

No ACCN for me. Looked at the box score. J Goldwire 10/6. WTF?

[-jk]

No rest? Didn’t we last play Tuesday (albeit late)? Maybe I’m missing something.

Yes, they played Tuesday. And they got back RDU at 4am.

-jk

[DukieInBrasil]

Another slow start, but once this team figured out how to score consistently and slowed their attack down.... The game really turned in the final "quarter", i don't know if that was due to superior depth or execution (both?) but it was impressive.
Nice to see AOC contribute even when his shot wasn't falling, and then it started falling a bit. Nice to see. Also nice to see Wendell turn in a solid overall performance. Also, also nice was that Joey Baker turned in a stat-stuffer game, indicating that the toughness and hustle some people were noticing before started showing up statistically, even if his shots weren't falling tonight.
MOTM goes to Tre, led the team in pts, assists and rebounds.

[killerleft]

I think that the SFA game forced Coach K to think quite a bit about what to do against that type of team. He's a thinker.

Great game by Wendell Moore. Still a bit wild at times, but I doubt Coach K wants to completely rein that in. His defense was solid.

[gep]

He was clearly rusty. Didn't feel fully comfortable pushing it on the drive. Looked pretty solid defensively. Definitely no reinjury issues, as far as I could tell. This just felt like a tough matchup for him to try to ease his way back into action. Totally understandable, of course, especially since this was apparently just his second day of being able to do full-contact basketball work. Good to see him out there, and looking forward to seeing him back to himself soon.

Thanks for your comments.

[scottdude8]

Got in at 4am, exams, flew on Thursday. Low rest. Low prep\aration.

Exacerbated by the fact that Va Tech had a whole week to prepare since they didn’t play in the challenge.

[-jk]

I think that the SFA game forced Coach K to think quite a bit about what to do against that type of team. He's a thinker.

Great game by Wendell Moore. Still a bit wild at times, but I doubt Coach K wants to completely rein that in. His defense was solid.

I'd love to know what Wendell said to inspire the flagrant.

-jk

[Reddevil]

I'd love to know what Wendell said to inspire the flagrant.

-jk

He said,"Duke 45 VT 10".

[SavDukeGrad]

I'd love to know what Wendell said to inspire the flagrant.

-jk

Me too! Although maybe Nolley was just frustrated, since Moore had held him scoreless in the 2nd half.

[robed deity]

Also, if you had Duke's only loss through 10 games being at home to SFA, let's take a trip to Vegas.

[jv001]

I thought Coach K did a masterful coaching job tonight. Going small to stop some of the inside scoring was masterful. But I'm not surprised. He is the GOAT. VT was driving the ball at Vernon and he couldn't defend that type play. I thought Moore did a good job. Next to Tre, Wendell might be Duke's best on the ball defender. Now some time off and as the young men get with the school work.

GoDuke!

[Tripping William]

Not sure I have seen a more effective timeout in a long, long time. Ol’ Roy might want to watch & learn.

[CameronDuke]

Duke can’t win true road games, and for this reason, Coach K goes out of his way NOT to schedule them.

LET’S GO DUKE!

[du_bb1]

Really good game, interesting strategy, thought K mighty try a zone. Obviously why he is there and I am here....

each where they should be

[Troublemaker]

From the 20,000-ft level, Duke just executed our pregame plan well. We held VaTech to their fewest 3-pt attempts of the season *and* their lowest percentage shooting from 3 for the season (25%). We gave up some layups as a result, but overall the Hokies could only register 0.95 ppp without their threes. And Duke's offense did enough to carry us to the win. That's what I laid out in the pregame thread.

But when you dig in, it becomes a much more interesting story and you see that Coach K did a great coaching job -- he decided that to beat this smallball 5-out team, Duke would have to *become* a smallball 5-out team ourselves. And we ended up beating VaTech at their own game. Just wonderful!

[chrishoke]

MOTM goes to Tre, led the team in pts, assists and rebounds.

Tre was simply magnificent tonight. Reminded me of Grant Hill's play his senior year.

[SavDukeGrad]

I feel like I have re-lived the sweet 16 and elite 8 games this week. Nice to get 2 wins this time!

Masterful adjustments by Coach K. I was afraid we didn't have enough scoring ability on the floor, when he put Jack at the 5, while Goldwire and Moore were on the floor with Tre and Joey. But he believed in them and they delivered. Nice to see Moore have a good game too.

[SkyBrickey]

Tre was outstanding. Goldwire, Moore and White with great games. AOC comes through with big buckets and seemed more confident/aggressive.

From the eye test, VT was playing with about 60% of the energy in the second half as the first. In the first 10 min of the game they were flying around the court. Tough to sustain that for 40 minutes. We definitely wore them down.

MOTM to Coach K.