Duke 66, UVa 65 - Postgame thread

[dukelion]

Might get lost in it all but thought the buckets by Coleman were huge...not easy makes and just came at crucial times.

[FerryFor50]

The best defensive performance for this team this season. We only had a few bad breakdowns on switches, out-hustled the 'Hoos to the 50-50 balls, and made the plays at the end (minus a missed free throw) to put this one in the win column. Loved the floor slap!
Both teams were unbelievably hot in the first half. That was fun to watch!

Some of that has to do with UVA not being able to take advantage of the switches on Huff in the post. They were too conservative IMO.

[Bob Green]

Congrats on the win.

Thank you! It shows a lot of class posting after a defeat. Virginia posters are hands down the best visitors on DBR.

[CoachJ10]

Those are our turnovers the last 3 games. That’s called playing smarter, harder and more disciplined.

If Huff had a Duke uniform on...he’d have 5 fouls called on him before warmups. Me no likely his game.

Coleman...Brake...seizing the moment. Kudos to you, young men.

[Native]

I thought our D in the second half was pretty damn good. UVA kept getting the switches they wanted but our fellas communicated really well and switched back nicely. Proud of this team!

This—I saw a heightened awareness of matchups and much better communication across-the-board. Our best defensive performance of the season. Played straight-up M2M the entire game. Outstanding!

[devildeac]

I feared the worst when Steward missed the front end, but the last defensive sequence was great. Hello, NCAAs!

PS. It was great to see Wendell at the end after taking not one but two shots to the face. Tough kid.

Yep, face foul/s on Duke.

[rsvman]

That was exciting. Glad the possession arrow went our way after fumbling a pretty simple pass and that Clark mishandled the ball on the last possession, which led to a more rushed shot than it needed to be.
Three missed free throws by Steward in the last fourth of the game. Very uncharacteristic.
Glad we snuck out a win, but our performance at crunchtime wasn't really all that much better than it was in a few of our losses.

[devildeac]

I was gobsmacked at how that elbow from Hauser wasn’t a flagrant when it’s been a flagrant all year.

Look at the crew.

[Native]

Might get lost in it all but thought the buckets by Coleman were huge...not easy makes and just came at crucial times.

Can’t let this get lost—he had a few key plays early in the second half when we kind of lost a bit of energy. He kept us in it on a few possessions for sure.

[peloton]

Congrats on the win. UVA had no answer for Hurt and Brakefield had a great game. I'm sure the sky is falling over on The Sabre so I'll just post here instead lol. UVA is still a tourney lock so I'm not going to sweat a 1 point loss on the road at Duke. Just wish we had the opportunity to run it back in Charlottesville. Oh well, maybe we'll see you in the ACC tournament.

Thanks, jhmoss1812...it was a great college hoops game. Good luck to both programs as the season progresses. Your comment re:The Sabre cracked me up!

[DU82]

1928. 9-5, last year as an independent. Last time not winning double digit games.

[FerryFor50]

Look at the crew.

They didn’t even review the screen by Huff that laid out Moore. Definitely leaned his shoulder in.

UVA has mastered how to dupe the officials into thinking that they don’t foul because they keep their arms up while moving their bodies into offensive players.

[CDu]

Interestingly, our performance tonight in terms of adjusted efficiency was almost exactly... UVa. We played the equivalent of the #8 team in the country, our third straight top-10 level performance.

[throatybeard]

I would like to formally welcome y’all back to thinking Duke’s at-large chances aren’t dead.

Life support never felt so good.

Survive and advance.

[DukieInBrasil]

I loved that Henry Coleman tied his career high, and played very credible defense on some very good offensive players. He got abused on one switch for a dunk but he definitely got the better of Huff for a stretch.
Roach had quite a comeback game, scoring with finesse and guile. He'll figure it out.
Jaemyn didn't convert the and-1, and DJ left a potential 4 points on the FT line tonight, all in the 2nd half. Making a few of those makes this game a lot less tense.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Glad we snuck out a win, but our performance at crunchtime wasn't really all that much better than it was in a few of our losses.

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[weezie]

I thought our D in the second half was pretty damn good...

It was terrific. The best D we've played under real pressure this year. hoo never got their hallowed line formed and unless they're wide open for 3s they're pretty average

[UrinalCake]

Some of that has to do with UVA not being able to take advantage of the switches on Huff in the post. They were too conservative IMO.

I noticed that all game - we'd switch on an off the ball screen and have Goldwire or Roach guarding Huff, but UVA would just take their time and dribble around the perimeter giving us time to switch back. On one of the last possessions Brakefield got switched onto Clark but was able to stay with him and block the shot, while he could have passed it to Huff for an easy bucket. We managed our switches really well, I don't always understand the strategy but it worked in this one.

Coleman's buckets were very timely but what stands out to me the most was the end of the first half when he was brought in on defense to protect Hurt from picking up a foul. UVA immediately isolated Clark on him, but Coleman was able to stay with him and force a miss to preserve the 3 point lead going into the half. A small thing but all those little plays are the difference between winning and losing.

[devildeac]

They didn’t even review the screen by Huff that laid out Moore. Definitely leaned his shoulder in.

UVA has mastered how to dupe the officials into thinking that they don’t foul because they keep their arms up while moving their bodies into offensive players.

Yep; someone commented on that during the in-game thread.

[throatybeard]

1928. 9-5, last year as an independent. Last time not winning double digit games.

Thanks for this reminder. Getting the ten is really meaningful, and without the OOC Christmas padding, was a lot harder this year.