Duke 75, Ga Tech 68 Post Game Thread

[uh_no]

22 free throws was nice to see.

[devildeac]

MOTM=JGold 'cuz Alvarado didn't score 40.

(kidding, sort of)

[TywinBlue]

Congratulations on a great team win !

[devildeac]

22 free throws was nice to see.

We get all the calls (some of the time).

[VA_BDevil]

Great to see us close both halves strongly. Hope to see that again Saturday vs Clemson.

[ChillinDuke]

We needed this win. A lot of things happened tonight that meant something.

The team put together a good run to close the 1st half.

The team closed the game reasonably well.

The team drew fouls.

The team had two All-ACC level performers.

The team felt game pressure and answered.

The team had a deep list of solid performances.

We showed progress tonight. And the beauty is that we didn't do any of the things I listed above particularly superbly - meaning we have quite a notch higher to go. GT is not a bad team, despite the lack of notoriety. Alvarado and Wright are both very good.

Have to build off this now. Can't afford to step back.

- Chillin

[BlueandWhite]

We started the game well, finished the 1st half well, started the 2nd kinda meh, then let GT make it tense, but played with poise down the stretch. I think we witnessed this team grow up a little bit.
JGold needs to start. I don't care what Roach's ceiling is, JGold does a better job at making this team better.
I was pleased to see JJ finish so strong. Also good to see he and Hurt have good games at the same time.

Great win for Duke tonight. Agree 100%, Goldwire should start. As another poster mentioned — love it when Duke gets to the stripe more than the other team...and they made their FTs down the stretch.

[UrinalCake]

After GT hit that circus three to pull within 1, the body language of our team was terrible and I really feared they would collapse. It was a great gut check to see them respond and pull out the win. We haven't been in a lot of close games so to be able to close it out, hit shots and knock down free throws in crunch time is a huge confidence boost for the team.

I don't want to overstate the win, but it feels big and potentially a turning point of the season. Big game this weekend.

[DukieInBrasil]

Slight disagreement. We also defended pretty well and shot 2s really well. And forced Tech (who doesn't turn the ball over) to commit 11 turnovers.

We also got GT to foul us a lot, which is contrary to both what GT usually does and what Duke has been able to do this year.

[CDu]

Can't overstate how important that last 9:26 was for this team's season. 6-5 and 4-3 doesn't sound like much, but the hill would be so much worse sitting at 5-6 and 3-4. Having just given up a big lead to let Tech tie it, for this team to step up and fight back was huge.

So happy for Goldwire, who played the game of his life. So happy for Johnson, who shrugged off a rough first 25 minutes or so to be absolutely dominant down the stretch. So happy for Steward to have had such a great first half. So happy for Mark Williams to have had a really nice first half as well. So happy for Hurt to find his shot down the stretch as well, and thrilled to see Johnson and Hurt starting to figure out their two-man game.

There are of course some negatives, but not worth harping on that. This was a BIG win for the team. Let's hope they can build on it going forward.

Very excited to see if Hurt and Johnson can really start punishing people. Their games should be so simpatico. Tonight was the first time we've really seen them click together. But man, if they get it going, this team has the potential to be a nightmare for opposing defenses.

Baby steps for the program. Steward had a good night. Goldwire played well. And the bigs came to play down the stretch. Let's hope we can build off this, and that the rest of the team finds its legs around the core of Johnson/Hurt/Steward.

[VA_BDevil]

MOTM=JGold 'cuz Alvarado didn't score 40.

(kidding, sort of)

And 7 assists!

[DukieInBrasil]

Very excited to see if Hurt and Johnson can really start punishing people. Their games should be so simpatico. Tonight was the first time we've really seen them click together. But man, if they get it going, this team has the potential to be a nightmare for opposing defenses.

nice use of simpatico!

[chrishoke]

And 7 assists!

and only one turnover. Plus, I thought his leadership in crunch time was key.

5 rebs and 11 points.

[FerryFor50]

Goldwire is MotM for me. Huge steal on Alvarado at the end, huge rebound on the Hurt missed FT, great pass to Jalen for an and-1, and some timely offense and FTs.

Steward was also very good and handled Alvarado chirping better than I would have.

Williams played big. Was surprised he didn’t earn more minutes in the 2nd, but looks like K shortened his bench. I think that’s the pattern going forward; play the non-starters some in the first and ride whatever hot hand you have and then play your best 6 in the 2nd. Roach, Goldwire, JJ, Hurt, Steward and Moore.

Moore played in control and didn’t force things. Played solid D.

Also finally got big games from both Hurt and JJ. Hopefully this is a start of good things.

Roach has regressed quite a bit. Two turnovers. One assist. 0-3 from the field. All threes? When the driving lanes were there and we want to draw more fouls? Also missed a wide open JJ in the lane on a pick and roll.

Love the strong start this game; brought the fight early and built a lead and held on even though Tech was getting some fortunate bounces, like the Parham fadeaway out of bounds three at the end of the shot clock and the high bounce off the rim three.

[heyman25]

We won!!!!!!!!!

A win is a WIN ! Take that to the Bank!

[kako]

5 thoughts...

1. The team progression continues, but it's so much better to say that after a win! Winning is so much better than losing!

2. Good team effort. 4 guys in double figures (nobody doing so eating up tons of shots), and there was some scoring off the bench. Like another poster wrote, Steward/JGold/Williams (?!?!) led the first charge, then Johnson and Hurt took them down the stretch. JGold had as many assists as the team had vs. Ville. Hurt hit some c-l-u-t-c-h buckets, and Johnson in transition was so hard to stop (I wanted him to take it coast-to-coast again that time he dished off to an open Steward). Great team rebounding. And FTs? 18-22? With a 16 FT differential over the Jackets? And it seemed like ages since they had a double digit lead. Sure, they lost it... twice... but... Hallelujah!!!

3. Not really sure why Williams didn't play more, nobody could really match up to his size inside. He's not the fleetest of foot, to be sure. But if he can keep improving, he could be the 5 this team has been searching for. K must have seen something in practice to put him in over the other bigs. It must be great for the guy's confidence.

4. OK, the defense still lacks. Stopping their quickness seemed very difficult. And they still had some bad turnovers. Plus, Baker still needs to take advantage of the chances K is giving him... because those chances have to end sooner or later if he can't capitalize... Overall, there's still a lot to work on. Clemson will be another step up in opponent quality.

5. On the Tech side, I really thought that crazy 3 by Parham might have been a harbinger of doom. So glad it won't be remembered after I write this. But man, Alvarado - what an annoying dude. Watching him play must be like what Duke opponents in years past thought of Wojo or Hurley. And he was woofing like GP! He's a guy you hate unless he's on your team. But he played a really good game. Glad it was for a loss!

9F

[moonpie23]

2 critical turnovers by the broken string helped to seal the win...

i bet his team mates don't like him very much...

[roywhite]

How about the passion of our legendary coach?

Two+ weeks short of his 74th Birthday, he sure did enjoy win #1,163! What a treat for this team to share this victory with him.

Should Goldwire start? Yeah, I guess so, but more important will be to see him FINISH more games like this. That's what a senior leader is supposed to do.

[Dr. Rosenrosen]

So, the biggest question of the night... did anyone figure out what Hurt had stuck in his waistband?

[BlueDevilStop]

Mark Williams was very impressive. He gives Duke an entirely different look when he is in the game and playing well.