I didn't realize until they mentioned it during the game that Gonzaga is playing UCLA tomorrow. They are doing a Celine-like residency in Vegas, playing Central Michigan tonight, UCLA tomorrow and Duke Friday. I assume a lot of Gonzaga fans are spending Thanksgiving week in Vegas.
I liked the inside-outside balance tonight. And there was a lot of heart and passion out there - it was good to see Paolo get a little mad. Wendell is the guy who is going to will this team to some victories. Good to see Joey go aggressively to the hole a few times.
I hope their coach is OK - that was scary.
Sage Grouse
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'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013
According to the ESPN box, The Citadel had 8 different players attempt a three tonight. Three of those 8 stunk it up (shooting a combined 2-16) BUT, the other 5 guys were a combined 14-18 (or...nearly 78%!!!). That HAS to be some kinda record - to have 5 different players combine for 78% from deep? Crazy, just crazy!
Good news from the postgame presser, via Dave Thompson on Twitter: 'Citadel assistant coach Jack Castleberry said Duggar Baucom "is as good as he can be. He's in good spirits."'
Citadel had the deadliest shooters I have seen at Cameron. They needed no time to catch and shoot. They should show film of Citadel to have Duke perimeter shooters model. Davis was amazing. I don't know all of their names,but count me impressed. Wish AJ Griffin had gotten a little more PT. Great game from Paolo and Mark. Great preparation for Gonzaga. Wendell Moore has evolved into a great leader. Trevor and Jeremy are both productive. I expect better games ahead for both of them.Gonzaga should be an electric game.
If someone had told me that we'd give up 18 threes on 52.6% outside shooting, I'd have expected a potential upset. Instead, we won by 26 which is simply amazing.
OFFENSE
Possessions: 72.1 (people were talking about how fast Citadel plays, but this was our 2nd-slowest game of the season)
oRtg: 1.49 (1.44 "adjusted," for whatever the adjustment is worth in mid-November; this is about as good an offensive game as we could possibly see; not just the equivalent of the best offense in the country, but it was 23 points (per 100 possessions) better than the actual best offense in the country)
eFG%: 54.1% (good but not spectacular)
3pt%: 26.7% (not so hot, after three straight great games from three)
2pt%: 63.6% (outstanding; our best 2pt% of the season)
%threes: 40.5% (way too high, especially since we only shot 27% from out there)
FT rate: 39.2% (very strong; best FT rate of the season)
OR%: 46.2% (superb; best OR performance of the season and 2nd straight excellent job on the offensive boards)
TO%: 4.2% (this is just WOW; we've been good at avoiding turnovers all season, but this is next level stuff)
a/to: 8.33:1 (beyond belief; I can't ever remember Duke being over 8:1 before; 3rd straight game over 2:1)
%assisted: 69.4% (highest assist% of the season)
fast break pts: 20 (18.7% of points; pretty good)
DEFENSE
dRtg: 1.12 (1.14 "adjusted"; horrendous; the equivalent of the #357 (2nd-to-worst) defense in the nation)
eFG%: 62.5% (somebody grab a fire extinguisher)
3pt%: 52.9% (U-G-L-Y, we ain't got no alibi...)
2pt%: 43.3% (all right, this is pretty good)
%threes: 53.1% (outrageously high)
FT rate: 7.8% (amazing; the best of many outstanding efforts at avoiding putting our opponents on the line this season; 3rd time this season that this stat has been under 10%)
DR%: 77.8% (we've now been pretty strong on the defensive boards in four out of six games (three straight))
TO%: 18.0% (barely adequate)
a/to: 1.62:1
%assisted: 67.7%
stl%: 11.1% (barely adequate)
blk%: 7.8% (16.7% of 2pt shots) (good)
fast break pts: 20 (24.7% of points; gawd-awful; we gave up a ton of fast-break threes)
Pace wasn't the problem, as this game was right about average speed for us. I think we gave up too many open threes early, their confidence swelled, and then even when we guarded them closely they still hit their shots. Other than the threes, our D was actually pretty decent (though Mrs. Lincoln might have something to say about that statement). The good news was our offense was even more amazing than our overall defense was terrible. I doubt we'll see this (or any) team put up too many 1.49 oRatings.
[QUOTE=dukefan5656;1420443]
Duke only had 3 turnovers.
And 25 assists. How's that for an A/TO %? Odd that this game has so many statistical quirks.
Yes- he had a heart event in 1990- they said heart attack but likely an arrhythmia- and then had a implantable defibrillator placed in him in 2006 to help save his life. He must be prone to these events and had one yesterday. Either that or the defibrillator went off by accident- which can happen. Little known fact- Duke was a leader in defibrillation research in the 1980’s and 1990’s.