Duke 79, Kentucky 71 Post-Game Thread

[uh_no]

Good win. some pieces near the top of what we might expected, some still with some work to do.

Good start to the season. looking forward to friday.

[WHOneedsSOX]

Solid win. Defense looks pretty decent. Hope their shooting gets better. Think they only made 1 3? Banchero and Keels are stars. Moore looked better.

[evrim]

Any day is a good day when you beat Kentucky and Calipari.

[simplyluvin]

Really like this team. Paolo and Keels are ballers, but Theo is a force...one heck of a backup center. Wendell and Jeremy look to have made their leaps. Really excited for this year.

[UrinalCake]

It's almost a perfect outcome for the first game of the season - we won and did some really good things, but there's also a ton of room for improvement.

[dukelifer]

Solid win. Defense looks pretty decent. Hope their shooting gets better. Think they only made 1 3? Banchero and Keels are stars. Moore looked better.

Team will get better but nice response after UK made a huge run after Duke being up 15. Cramping allowed Griffin to get some good minutes and make some plays. Lots of holes but this team has a ton of potential.

[dukebluesincebirth]

Keel mode. Activate.

[flyingdutchdevil]

Keel mode. Activate.

Was pretty even keeled all night

[AGDukesky]

Keels was fantastic and Banchero was just behind him. Moore was really good and Theo John was great compared to expectations. Roach has to be better running the offense and finding open men but he had moments. Williams dropped too many rebounds but also did some good things. And Griffin was in during that big run doing all the little things. Joey didn’t really do much but his defensive effort was improved and he was also in during the run.

[CDu]

Thrilled to have college bball back!

Great start to the season.

Banchero looked great. Keels looked great.

Defense looked good, with the exception of not being able to keep Tshiebwe off the glass. They eventually figured out Wheeler, and took Grady out of the game after the first half.

Great way to start the season. Hopefully they can build off this. And hopefully they get the cramping figured out.

[scottdude8]

I am very happy. Will have coherent thoughts tomorrow. Good night all 😀

[DU82]

Using last year’s “favorite” phrase, this team was not knocked back.

[Stray Gator]

The best feature of this game to me? When Kentucky made the furious run to cut that 15-point lead down to 4, this Duke team didn't let itself get "knocked back," but regrouped and regained control down the stretch to finish the game. That resilience bodes well, and provides a basis for some cautious optimism.

[DukieInBrasil]

Team will get better but nice response after UK made a huge run after Duke being up 15. Cramping allowed Griffin to get some good minutes and make some plays. Lots of holes but this team has a ton of potential.

I also liked how Duke responded to multiple UK runs there in the 2nd half, showed maturity. Keels stepped up big, as did Paolo. Roach ended with a nice well-rounded stat sheet, but not exactly what this team needs from the PG spot. Moore also with a nice well-rounded stat sheet, but i still don't think he should be initiating offense off the dribble. Such a luxury to have such a high-quality big off the bench like Theo. Good stuff all around!!!

[UrinalCake]

Keels going to the basket and finishing through contact is such a weapon. Reminds me of Jay Williams, a guy the size of a linebacker barreling at the rim. Paolo can get that midrange jumpshot any time he wants, when he's hitting it there's no stopping him. It didn't even feel like he really went off, he just quietly put up 22 points. Moore also had a great game, was perfect from the field through the first half and made clutch plays throughout. Did have 3 turnovers and he really needs to be used more off the ball rather than as a primary creator but he showed great leadership in coming through when the team needed it.

AJ showed up with some big defensive plays during that stretch where both Moore and Paolo were out. Lots to love about this game and this team.

[CoachKville13]

Trevor Keels is a dog.

Going forward, the ball movement is concerning. Too much aimless driving and only 7 assists on 31 made buckets. Simply slowing things down should help some, but I'm not optimistic that Roach can effectively run the point for this team.

[FerryFor50]

Great win.

Kentucky was older and played physical and Duke didn’t back down. Didn’t wilt under pressure and gave back as good as they got.

A lot of criticism will be levied at allowing 20 rebounds to Tschiebwe, but not a lot of teams have a guy like that. Hopefully they’ll get better at boxing out rather than trying to outleap everyone (looking at you Mark).

Defense looked really solid (held Kentucky to 37% from the field, got 9 steals, blocked 5 shots) and they seemed to switch and communicate really well. Was great to see Keels carry the team with Moore and Banchero out. Gonna need that extra leader.

Banchero was great, but forced his offense a bit too much. Moore was solid, too, but was sloppy with the ball a few times (similar to last year).

Things to work on/areas of concern:

- rebounds/box outs
- better passing/more assists on baskets (too much ISO)
- better outside shooting
- less cramping

Was glad to see so many players getting some minutes. John is going to be a solid contributor and adds a lot of toughness. Looking forward to a few cupcake wins after this one to see if the issues we saw tonight were more a product of Kentucky’s defense rather than Duke issues. (Kentucky is gonna be good this year)

[uh_no]

IN the offseason I've ranted (what? I never rant!) about how there is a huge margin on the team because of the amount of variability of how players would perform.

THIS IS ONE DATA POINT, but we have some players that performed great, and others who didn't.

At the top of what we might expect:
- Keels
- Moore
- John

All were great out there. Especially John, providing some toughness down low.

Some work to do:
- Roach He wasn't "bad" but was a bit invisible on offense. 1 AST 2 TO is not really the improvement we're looking for. I'll take 7 boards though!
- Williams. He certainly had his moments, but is not nearly strong enough for a team like UK. I doubt he regressed, but he's certainly not at the top of the range that many here suggested he may be at. I expect all year his effectiveness to be situational, a bit like last. He really needed to bulk up more

Exactly as good as advertised:
- Banchero. where "as advertised" is "phenomenal." He isn't necessarily as strong as you might want for someone that size, but it doesn't matter when you can exploit the mismatch to finesse your way to the foul line
- Griffen. Came in with a defensive spark in the second half. like what he brought.


Now, I have 0 complaints about the offense. At a time or two, I was concerned about the Banchero ISO, RJ Barret flashbacks, but if he is going to do a Kevin Durant impression, he can do what he wants. (it was like 106 efficiency. pretty good against what we think should be a good UK defense)

The defense had some issues (96 efficiency). The perimeter D was weak at times (I pointed out in the in-game that the opening possessions of the first half, we got beat by a backdoor cut, and PnR consecutively, and of course we gave up way too many wide open 3's early), and the interior D was weak at times as well (uhhh offensive rebounds???), but we made some adjustments in the second half, played a bit more aggressive (at one point I was happy for us picking up a block call, because at least they weren't just blowing by), and pulled away in what was mostly the decisive run (even though UK closed it slightly). There is still some major room for improvement, but it improved significantly as the game went on.

How good this team is is still WAY up in the air, since we have no idea if UK is actually any good, and it's clear that not all our pieces were as good as they could have been. But it's a good start, and something to build off of, as any win against a top 10 team in MSG would be.

Moving forward, I think our top 5 are
Moore
Keels
Banchero
John
Williams

Though I expect that to change game to game. I hope to see some more effective offense from Roach, and more effective overall play from williams moving forward. And not every team will have the lack of composure UK showed at times (they got really impatient on offense for a stretch in the second half)

DDMF

[uh_no]

Team will get better but nice response after UK made a huge run after Duke being up 15. Cramping allowed Griffin to get some good minutes and make some plays. Lots of holes but this team has a ton of potential.

That's a good way to put it. This team won't miss the tournament. That's a start IMO.

[UrinalCake]

Another underrated stat: Paolo 8-9 from the free throw line. That was huge especially during moments when the game was tight.