MBB: Duke 79, Clemson 53 Post Game Thread

[Bob Green]

Discuss the game here.

[Alan_Wilson]

That was revenge for 74-47

[snewman92]

Williams impressed with his motor and his efficiency.

[dukebluesincebirth]

That was fun!!! Hate the crazies weren’t there for that one!!

[Sophia Devil]

Now that was Duke basketball. So refreshing to see energy, attitude, confidence, and some old fashioned Duke swagger back on the court today. They took the fight to Clemson mentally and physically and didn't back down. This was the first game we've imposed our will on another team. I still think Jalen needs to be more selfish, and take more shots but his ability to facilitate offense is impressive.

And Mark Williams, wow! The beauty of his game is he can still be incredibly raw and make a huge impact defensively and with his length at the rim.

Just a great, great game to build on. And if anyone thinks this team only has a 19% chance to make the tournament, please let's make a bet on that, cause I'll bet the house right now that we're gonna be dangerous come March.

[rsvman]

Passing was much sharper than it has been. Seemed like they played more as a team then as a collection of individuals.
Scoring was balanced, which reflects the team mentality, as well. When we play like that, it is a real challenge for opposing teams.
I hope to see a lot more of this type of ball going forward. Even if we play this well, the games wing be as easy as this one was. Clemson appears to be broken.
Still, a good, solid win that we really needed.

[DavidBenAkiva]

CDu, please write up the pre-game thread for Miami. Let's keep the good vibes rolling. It's all yours again!

[CDu]

Really pleased with the avoidance of turnovers today. We didn’t make the hoop bigger by giving them easy transition buckets. We made a bad offensive team have to work for their baskets, and sure enough they struggled to score them.

The offensive output was in part s reflection of that low TO rate as well. We didn’t shoot overly well, but we worked the ball around and got good looks inside.

Just a really fun win. About the only negative was that Moore and Roach still shot too much from the perimeter, but c’est la vie. At least their percentages were okay (Moore) and good (Roach).

We now have two decent wins under our belts. Next game is an opportunity to stretch our legs and hopefully get some separation from .500.

[Ggallagher]

That was fun!!! Hate the crazies weren’t there for that one!!

Exactly what I thought when Buckmire scored. Wish he could have heard the crowd.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Our best and most solid game of the year! When the poll comes up, I'm voting Mark Williams MOTM. The performances were so evenly matched among our top 6 players, it's tough to choose!

[dukelifer]

Nice- The 2021-2022 Duke team came in and gave us a preview. Winning is a habit and there was much to like in this game. Clearly Clemson is limited on O but Duke moved the ball very well and of course it always helps to hit shots. A great win- a clear improvement on D and the team is getting better. Great to see Roach have a good game. His confidence needed it and Williams is playing so much better on both ends- much farther along than expected. Great win.

[BlueDevilStop]

Game recap and five observations from a highly impressive performance for Duke. This team is making some real progress.

https://bluedevilstop.com/duke-cruis...-over-clemson/

[CameronDuke]

The boys fired on all cylinders. Joey hit 2 three pointers. Williams looked awesome finishing at the rim, running the floor, and blocking shots/rebounding. He adds another dimension to the offense. The defense was awesome. Duke didn’t play zone today that I saw. The passing was superb. The ball movement and spacing was so much better. The shooting and drawing fouls was light years better. What a game! The trajectory of this team is exciting to watch.

7-5, 5-3! Let’s Go Duke!

[UrinalCake]

Fantastic game against a physical opponent! Love the balanced scoring and contributions from all over. Williams is coming around and gaining confidence, having that inside presence on both sides changes our whole team. When he gains some strength he’s going to be an absolute monster, but for right now it’s good to see him growing each game.

Really enjoyed the play call of having Hurt fall down, get up, and stroll into the wide open lane to receive the ball and lay it in. And Johnson’s dunk to end that guys life will be replayed for years. Baker and Roach hit a few shots to hopefully get back on track. Definitely felt like it was just an off day for Clemson, but after the tough closes losses we’ve had we were due. It’s a good day to be a Duke fan!

[Saratoga2]

Without looking at the stats, particularly because there were a lot of substitutions due to the blowout nature of the game, what I saw was a much more effective Duke team.

1 Defense was both active and tight until later in the games when a lot of subs were in. Really great mtm.

2. Goldwire solidifies the defense and stabilizes the team despite not being a primary scorer.

3. Williams gives us an inside presence defensively and is also someone we can dump it down to for points.

4. Excellent ball movement on offense. Not as much dribble happy play today.

5. Excellent scoring balance with some guys waking out of a deep slump. Maybe they had fun today and were loser.

6. Fast start and played hard and effectively until we were subbing heavily.


Some negative observations:

1. Moore still is not a good playmaker despite what the announcer said. He should not be in that role as Duke have others better than he who don't throw the ball away as frequently. He also should be taking turn around jumpers or press to make shots. He is better when taking wide open shots and confining himself to those.

2. The defense suffered when Roach and Brakefield were in the game. Roach had some good offense but still should pick his spots more effectively.

Generally, this looks like a team that can compete with anyone in the ACC and if they can grow off of today's experience they can be a dangerous tournament team.

[KandG]

At times I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, even though I thought we could (and should) have won this game before it started.

The highlights in transition and in the half court game were numerous, and I’m not even thinking of the Jalen dunk. Full court bounce pass from Goldwire to Steward in transition hitting him in perfect stride. Skip passes in transition on a rope to corner shooters. The ball whipping around from inside to outside and back in with ease and beauty. Forcing Clemson into a zone and beating the zone immediately with a player running to the nail and making a jumper without taking a breath. Roach with a long 3 with a man in his face, and another step back 3 in the second half. Williams with a post move and-one *and* catching lobs in traffic.

(Oh yeah, Buckmire getting an offensive rebound in traffic and getting a putback against bigger bodies. That too).

The relative lack of turnovers while all this happened — we didn’t have bad forced entry passes until late in the second half — was even more eye opening against a team as good defensively as Clemson. There was some outlier perimeter shooting involved and a few warts will undoubtedly return in our next game when the shooting comes back down to earth, but there was a lot of good in the way we played on both ends today.

[53n206]

Yes, great game. Finally enjoyed one fully. However I thought that the broadcasting pair was unbelievably bad. I don’t think they were watching the game most of the time. They did like to talk to each other though.

[lotusland]

Game recap and five observations from a highly impressive performance for Duke. This team is making some real progress.

https://bluedevilstop.com/duke-cruis...-over-clemson/

Felt like we shot better than 46%/32%. Helps not turning the ball over. Duke defended well but Clemson offense is bad. Joey is still struggling but at least he saw a couple go down. Mark Williams has earned spot in the rotation.

[BlueDevilStop]

Favorite part of this game was that the team did not let up at all after building a double digit lead. Instead, kept the pressure on and blew the game open. Great to see.

[BlueDevilStop]

Felt like we shot better than 46%/32%. Helps not turning the ball over. Duke defended well but Clemson offense is bad. Joey is still struggling but at least he saw a couple go down. Mark Williams has earned spot in the rotation.

Completely agree that Mark Williams has earned a spot in the rotation. He brings Duke an entirely new look when he is on the floor. The improvement he has shown has been impressive. He's been more patient and is doing a much better job at utilizing his size to his advantage.