MBB: Duke 73, Ga Tech 64 Post-Game Thread

[Acymetric]

I didn't get to watch the game but was able to follow the gamecast. With the exception of our 1999 squad, it seems that every Duke team faces a few tough road contests like this every year in the ACC. Coming out with a win under these circumstances is the most important thing.


Sidenote: There were a total of 4 ACC games tonight and there is a very tight grouping amongst the final scores.

Duke 73 Georgia Tech 64

Pitt 73 UNC 65

NC State 73 Notre Dame 68

FSU 78 Wake 68

Woah, that's pretty cool, thanks for pointing it out!

[arnie]

If ESPN has it right, Goldwire played 37 minutes. I guess K decided to play the tough D, smarter ball handling card and sacrifice shooting. I like Jordan for 15-20 minutes; not sure we can give up that much on offense against Louisville, FSU while Wendell out. Thought AOC could have played more tonight.

[DUKIECB]

Great game and the type of game a young team needs to help them grow and improve.

We must be better from the line though. 11-21 almost did us in. Do that in the tournament and you most likely get to watch the rest from home.

[BD80]

My two almae matres did OK last night. Sweet Caroline in a Blue Dress!

[TeacherTom]

I so hope next year that the major TV providers pick up the network. I grew as tired as I am right now of Sling's razor commercial last night. Even more disappointing was that double the razors were not offered if one were to act now. Beyond that, what an exciting game!

[BD80]

If ESPN has it right, Goldwire played 37 minutes. I guess K decided to play the tough D, smarter ball handling card and sacrifice shooting. I like Jordan for 15-20 minutes; not sure we can give up that much on offense against Louisville, FSU while Wendell out. Thought AOC could have played more tonight.

This was the most surprising stat line to me. Didn't see the game. Does it have anything to do with Jack only playing 7 minutes?

Good for Jordan to earn his PT, but boy oh boy would I like to see Cassius or AOC put forth that effort and earn a bigger share of those minutes.

[fuse]

K in the post Laettner seasons had talked about needing an “MFer” on the team.

Grit, toughness, will to win. Starting to wonder if Stanley is this team’s MFer.

Stat line aside, I’d agree with those that think something is a bit off with Tre.
The family has made his mother’s battle with cancer public, and while its none of my business, in Tre’s shoes, how my mom was doing would weigh heavily on me.
It was also Tre’s birthday, so maybe that’s a factor.

Watching Jack hit that open three reminded me of how good Jack was on the offensive end before losing confidence last season.

Goldwire may not be the story of the season, and I still think, wow, what a journey.
Barely recruited, last minute offer, expected to be a career practice player. Key to the comeback last season at Louisville, earned trust to run the team while Tre was out, and continues to play stellar defense and make good decisions. His assist to turnover ratio is pretty darn good.

I’m trying really hard not to give in and have high expectations for this year’s team. They are not making that easy- they appear to be having fun, play as a team, and don’t give up.

Let’s go Duke!

[weezie]

...Carey really struggled with the length and physicality of Banks. And IMHO, that's a big reason why he's not higher on NBA Mock Draft boards at the moment, despite his productivity so far this year...

Ok I'll stand with this, although when he learns to not take the pump fake bait and to really force his timing and strength he's going to move up that board. And if you cut the OTB non-calls that never landed on gtech, Vern would have had a much longer stint on the floor.

I wonder what guitar-man is thinking this morning? Such a delightfully stupid highlight. Someone wondered in chat, what would K do if he saw a Duke player pulling that kind of dopery on the court?

[dukelifer]

Duke played well in first half but got punched in the mouth in the second half. Credit Tech in not folding. They are a good defensive team and can be disruptive. The team did not play well at the start of the second. I was impressed that they did not crumble under the pressure as no player seemed to be stepping up. Lots of turnovers and missed shots. But this team continues to battle on D. Stanley woke up the team and then the team showed a ton of toughness down the stretch. Tech is not awful- particularly at home- and Carey seemed to have trouble with the length of their big guys. A great win on the road and winning close games is great preparation for the tourney.

[Saratoga2]

Moore brings a quality of toughness and defense that no one other than Jack White can bring and his presence was missed last night. Still, there was enough to beat a good GT team playing at their home. Hope Moore is not out for more than a month.

[Bluedog]

If ESPN has it right, Goldwire played 37 minutes. I guess K decided to play the tough D, smarter ball handling card and sacrifice shooting. I like Jordan for 15-20 minutes; not sure we can give up that much on offense against Louisville, FSU while Wendell out. Thought AOC could have played more tonight.

Louisville might not be the best example given Goldwire is the person who largely fueled the comeback against them last year. AOC had some solid minutes but Goldwire was just steady throughout, playing solid D and not making offensive mistakes.

[SkyBrickey]

If ESPN has it right, Goldwire played 37 minutes. I guess K decided to play the tough D, smarter ball handling card and sacrifice shooting. I like Jordan for 15-20 minutes; not sure we can give up that much on offense against Louisville, FSU while Wendell out. Thought AOC could have played more tonight.

Yeah, interesting decision by Coach. Goldwire was a one man wrecking ball on defense in the first half when we built the nice lead and coach stuck with him.

Nice game by AOC with some clutch shots.

I hope Joey can learn from this one. His two starts have not been his best moments. Nerves?

[SkyBrickey]

Moore brings a quality of toughness and defense that no one other than Jack White can bring and his presence was missed last night. Still, there was enough to beat a good GT team playing at their home. Hope Moore is not out for more than a month.

I agree with this. Moore’s absence was noticeable last night. He would’ve matched up against GT better than AOC or Joey.

[Billy Dat]

A very disjointed and messy game. It felt like our turnovers really fueled their runs as our half court defense seemed solid for the most part. Tech throws a bunch of different defensive wrinkles (as Pastner's cue cards suggest) and I think we got frustrated and got caught deep in the teeth of that zone jumping with nowhere to pass leading to too many guys below the free throw line when the transition started the other way. A HUGE play was that one where we are down 53-50 and Tre throws it away but it somehow slowly rolled out of bounds off Tech. If they keep the ball and go up 5 or 6 there, lots of game pressure would have followed as the game was getting shorter.

I was impressed with Tech, Banks was very solid but (A) I think he got a little gassed and (B) he missed a lot of buckets down the stretch within 3 feet of the rim. I also thought that Devoe went into hero mode (3-11) down the stretch when Tech would have been better off getting shots for the other guards. They also missed some open shots.

I was going to make a point about how they only played 6 guys and our depth wore them down but, lo and behold, our minutes distribution was much less democratic...Jones and Goldwire above 36 each, Hurt at 33, Casisus and Vernon at 25-27. White and Baker in single digits. But, it was also the first close game we've played in a while, and, aside from Joey, all of these guys saw the court when the game was in question in the final 10 minutes. Depth, in this case, perhaps means that guys who are regularly playing are more able to come in when their number is called, even on a night when they haven't played that much (Jack and Javin) and make big, decisive plays.

For us...we just keep getting it done. K mentioned it in the post game, but Jack's 3 AND block, Vernon's big put back to put us up 4 late, Tre's pull up in the lane, Cassius' brief and furious dunk takeover sequence, Javin's late defense...that's a lot of different guys making winning plays in the last 10 minutes of a conference road game.

Great job by this team with a road heavy start to conference play. Let's keep building

[Jaks19]

When JGold and Tre are together. Stanley at the 3 and Jack at the 4 is a physical group that will get at it defensively. But that puts a lot on Stanley and Tre (along with Carey at the 5) to carry toe load offensively.

[devildeac]

Nothing beats a Duke win on the road coupled with a Tar Heel loss at the nose dome.

What a day.

And a NCSU win at home! A perfect trifecta in the Triangle area!

[ndkjr70]

Was thinking about this yesterday -- overconfidence, overcelebrating and prematurely celebrating seem to be a staple of Josh Pastner teams. I was reminded of that last night when my buddy texted me (after the air guitar) "aren't these the bums that slapped the floor in Cameron a few years ago right before getting blown out"?

Yes, they are those bums.

[bluenorth]

Yeah, interesting decision by Coach. Goldwire was a one man wrecking ball on defense in the first half when we built the nice lead and coach stuck with him.

Nice game by AOC with some clutch shots.

I hope Joey can learn from this one. His two starts have not been his best moments. Nerves?

There have been some players in the dim, dark past (not from Duke) who have earned some notoriety for NOT wanting to start, but preferred coming in as a super-sub. Sorry, the names escape me. I don't see Baker in that role, but his starts haven't been great so far.

[roywhite]

Was thinking about this yesterday -- overconfidence, overcelebrating and prematurely celebrating seem to be a staple of Josh Pastner teams. I was reminded of that last night when my buddy texted me (after the air guitar) "aren't these the bums that slapped the floor in Cameron a few years ago right before getting blown out"?

Yes, they are those bums.

Yet, apparently Pastner doesn't make the connection between excessive early celebration, jumping around, etc. and running out of gas late in the game.

https://goduke.com/documents/2020/1/...ent_Quotes.pdf

On running out of steam offensively over the final three minutes of the game:
“Yeah, we probably got a little tired because we exerted so much energy to get back. I was just talked to Marvin Lewis and I was telling him, it
would be nice if there was somewhere you could steal some minutes, maybe give a little rest to those guys. It’s just hard when you get yourself
down against a good team like this. You lose your margin of error and you’re struggling to score and then what happensis you just fight and claw
to get yourself back in front, and you do, and you exert so much energy that it’s hard to sub at that time because you’re just kind of moving. But
it is what it is. We missed a lot of short shots right at the rim. And all you can ask for is an opportunity to get there. We missed a couple of open
looks, and when I say you could live with it, in a sense, as a coach, is all you can ask for is you give yourself a chance to win the game and we had
some opportunities.”

[bluenorth]

Coach K continues to do a great job of managing Carey's minutes. Yes, Carey is young and in good shape, but hauling 270 pounds up and down the court takes a lot of energy. Having DeLaurier there to give Carey regular breathers is a luxury that cannot be overlooked. It must be tempting to just leave Carey in for Jones (or Goldwire!) minute totals, but this strategy will pay off late in the season when Carey will be just that much fresher. In the meantime the young man seems to be learning how to play the college game. I'd much rather have his steady demeanor than someone playing air guitar after a basket.