WBB: Duke 53, Pitt 44

[CameronBornAndBred]

A nine point victory for Duke. Reading this thread during the game, I thought we were down double digits.

It wasn't nine points until the very end, when Pitt was exhausted. Duke's excellent D has at least that going for them, which enables comebacks such as when we played Carolina, but like in that game, if they played badly before then, it's not enough to overcome.
Pitt is a terrible team, so a nine point lead is not something to celebrate heavily.

[DoubleBlue]

A nine point victory for Duke. Reading this thread during the game, I thought we were down double digits.

Its just ugly basketball. Hard to watch. Thought the offense would come along by now.

[burnspbesq]

We never figured out Pitt’s defense. The only explanation for all the misguided interior passes is that we didn’t know where help was coming from. And we never figured out that the straight-on three was there all night if we made the defense move laterally

We made enough plays to survive, but when ND watches that tape you’ll be able to hear the giggles all the way from South Bend.

Maybe the plan was to make them overconfident going into Sunday.

[burnspbesq]

Starters shot almost 50 percent (starters other than Taylor shot 57 percent). Plus-17 on the glass. We held Pitt to 11-37 on twos. That’s the good news.

The bad news? 19 turnovers, and reserves shot 4-20.

[Kedsy]

Good thing our defense is so good, because our offense was terrible.


OFFENSE

Possessions: 65.6 (back to our usual slow-paced game)
oRtg: 0.81 (yucky; 2nd straight offensive clunker)
eFG%: 44.3% (not good, not horrible)
3pt%: 33.3% (decent)
2pt%: 40.6% (blech)
%threes: 39.6% (very high, but that's what a zone like Pitt's will give you)
FT rate: 26.4% (meh, especially since 10 of our 14 free throws came in the 4th quarter)
OR%: 38.2% (excellent)
TO%: 29.0% (horrifying; 3rd-worst TO game of the season)
a/to: 0.6:1 (tenth game in a row of 1:1 or worse)
%assisted: 55.0%
fast break pts: 5 (9.4% of points; meh)

DEFENSE

dRtg: 0.67 (outstanding; 19th game out of 22 under 0.883)
eFG%: 36.4% (superb)
3pt%: 33.3% (blah)
2pt%: 29.7% (whoa; 2nd-best opposing 2pt% oft the season)
%threes: 32.7% (ok)
FT rate: 12.7% (fabulous)
DR%: 82.1% (excellent; 7th-best defensive rebounding performance of the season)
TO%: 22.9% (good for some teams; but it's our 4th-lowest forced TO% of the season and 2nd straight game under 23% (after nine straight games over 25%))
a/to: 0.67:1 (16th straight game under 0.7:1)
%assisted: 58.8%
stl%: 12.2% (good)
blk%: 21.6% (2pt shots) (zonkers; 3rd straight block rate over 20%, and 8th 20%+ block% of the season)
fast break pts: 6 (13.6% of points; fair)


On offense, our rebounding was good but our turnovers were terrible, and everything else was a little worse than mediocre. On defense, they made just a few too many threes and turned it over less than most of Duke's opponents, but everything else was great. If we want to win at Notre Dame, we're going to have to play better than this.

[Phredd3]

It wasn't nine points until the very end, when Pitt was exhausted.

Actually, I think this was one game where opponent fatigue didn't play a factor at all. Pitt didn't look the slightest bit tired to me, and I think that's directly attributable to the fact that they played more players than we did (13 v. 10). The Pitt substitution pattern was interesting. Kara (and most coaches) typically sub out a player or two at a time. Pitt often subbed four or even five players all at once. It felt a bit like Calipari's approach that one year with Kentucky. What was his quote? Something like, "We don't bring in substitutes, we bring in reinforcements." That's kinda how it felt that Pitt was approaching the game. It enabled them to play very hard the entire 40 minutes, including ball pressure virtually every time up the court. It was an interesting approach, and it allowed their zone to be very active all the time.

We did a poor job against that zone most of the game, but I thought we finally kind of figured it out in that final quarter. We only had eleven assists in the whole game, but four of them came in that last quarter, and there would have been more, except that our shooters kept getting fouled. We went to the line a lot more in that last quarter (not that we shot free throws any better *sigh*), and I think that was mostly the result of finally making the good passes which forced the refs to blow the whistle when the contact came from behind or the side, rather than straight in front like it had been the whole rest of the game.

So weirdly, I credit the offense for the fourth quarter rather than opponent fatigue. Seems weird in a game where we only scored 53 points, but that was my perception, anyway.

[dukelifer]

Actually, I think this was one game where opponent fatigue didn't play a factor at all. Pitt didn't look the slightest bit tired to me, and I think that's directly attributable to the fact that they played more players than we did (13 v. 10). The Pitt substitution pattern was interesting. Kara (and most coaches) typically sub out a player or two at a time. Pitt often subbed four or even five players all at once. It felt a bit like Calipari's approach that one year with Kentucky. What was his quote? Something like, "We don't bring in substitutes, we bring in reinforcements." That's kinda how it felt that Pitt was approaching the game. It enabled them to play very hard the entire 40 minutes, including ball pressure virtually every time up the court. It was an interesting approach, and it allowed their zone to be very active all the time.

We did a poor job against that zone most of the game, but I thought we finally kind of figured it out in that final quarter. We only had eleven assists in the whole game, but four of them came in that last quarter, and there would have been more, except that our shooters kept getting fouled. We went to the line a lot more in that last quarter (not that we shot free throws any better *sigh*), and I think that was mostly the result of finally making the good passes which forced the refs to blow the whistle when the contact came from behind or the side, rather than straight in front like it had been the whole rest of the game.

So weirdly, I credit the offense for the fourth quarter rather than opponent fatigue. Seems weird in a game where we only scored 53 points, but that was my perception, anyway.

Yes- Pitt was active on D all night. They are just a very poor offensive team. Duke finally started to hit shots- particularly Taylor. She needs to be a 12-14 ppg player. Lately Day Wilson has been heating up- although her decision making is erratic at best. I did not get the inside passing against the zone - it just did not work at all.

[Daddylawman]

Yes- Pitt was active on D all night. They are just a very poor offensive team. Duke finally started to hit shots- particularly Taylor. She needs to be a 12-14 ppg player. Lately Day Wilson has been heating up- although her decision making is erratic at best. I did not get the inside passing against the zone - it just did not work at all.

It's hard to tell on TV, but it sure looked like Day Wilson was doing a lot of jawing, especially with the woman guarding her. At one point it appeared she dribbled past her defender heading up the court, then slowed down. As the defender kind of ran into her backside she seemed to turn, say something, then head up court.

[DoubleBlue]

It's hard to tell on TV, but it sure looked like Day Wilson was doing a lot of jawing, especially with the woman guarding her. At one point it appeared she dribbled past her defender heading up the court, then slowed down. As the defender kind of ran into her backside she seemed to turn, say something, then head up court.

Shayeanne plays with an edge, which is mostly good, but she needs to keep it within limits. I assume Coach Lawson keeps a close watch on this. The team needs to play with emotion, but too much can also be detrimental. It seems like some of the offensive inconsistency is due to initial tightness and then poor decision making.

[dudog84]

For anyone saying this team is painful to watch, I suggest they limit themselves to watching the highlight reel on goduke. We look GREAT!

https://goduke.com/watch/?Archive=12515&type=Archive