Great win as we outrebounded them. We did it while missing a number of makable shots from close in and we didn't have Whitehead, who should give us another solid player. We didn't get into foul trouble and we won the transition game by plenty.
“I love it. Coach, when we came here, we had a three-hour meeting about the core values. If you really represent the core values, it means diving on the floor, sacrificing your body for your teammates, no matter how much you’re up by or how much you’re down by, always playing hard.” -- Zion
Men’s bb just posted a post-game picture from the locker room. Mark Williams, Mason Plumlee, and Bates Jones (I think) were back, along with Paolo and Wendell.
5 thoughts...
1. I knew Lively could be the defensive answer down low, but I had serious doubts about his ability to stay out of foul trouble. I was right about defense, COMPLETELY wrong about foul trouble. As I'm sure everyone is thinking, a great, great, GREAT game from Lively.
2. Roach was good at first, then totally played hero ball for a while, then came up big in the end. Duke needs him on the floor. But, really, 20 shots? Duke won (yes!) but I think some passing might have been in order, and needs to be in order in the future (unless he's 10+ for 20)...
3. I thought Young would be a factor off the bench, but since Lively played so many minutes without foul trouble, he wasn't. Still, his minutes spelling Lively were good... Grandison was the one who took those minutes. It wasn't his best game, but his 3 was big, and getting the and-1 was key.
4. Somebody who keeps stats better than me knows this, but when was the last time Duke outrebounded the Cheats? As a team, I think that was the key to the win. One could also argue keeping Davis and Love in check from 3 could be as well (on that note, who picked Leaky Black to be 3-6 from 3?).
5. Scheyer's last play call to get Roach free for that drive in the last minute to go up by 4 was so good. That lane had been open for Duke a lot in the game. Proctor several times couldn't convert. But Scheyer saw it and put his faith in the upperclassman. He used Flip for the handoff and pulled him away from the lane to also take his defender.
And it paid off! Can we shut down the "Elephant in the room" thread now?
9F 9F 9F
I will never talk about That Game. GTHC.
BTW for anyone in the Peninsula and South Bay in the Bay Area - good showing at the Sports Page in Mountain View. All Duke people, I'd say at least 40+ of us.
9F
I will never talk about That Game. GTHC.
Jeremy threw a complete game tonight. Proctor played nearly 38 minutes. Flip played 35 minutes. Lively II played nearly 34 minutes.
Hope the boys hydrate on electrolytes some tonight in between golden sodas before the Miami, FL game in less than 48 hours in Coral Gables.
Sort of with you until the Bilas part...he was operating a new level of disgust tonight.
Lots of examples but the one that struck a chord (for whatever reason) was the fawning of Jalen Washington....a 4 star top 40 freshman who has done very little to date all of the sudden gets the "he's going to a very very special player" comment from Bilas.
Just seemed very weird and out of place from Bilas....almost like he was throwing a bone at Hubert's relative lack of recruiting success.
“I love it. Coach, when we came here, we had a three-hour meeting about the core values. If you really represent the core values, it means diving on the floor, sacrificing your body for your teammates, no matter how much you’re up by or how much you’re down by, always playing hard.” -- Zion
Wow, that was fun to watch. Lively really did a great job taking away Carolina's inside game. I had to go check this after Scheyer mentioned it in his presser, but as he surmised, that was the fewest point the cheats scored in a game this season.
Great game DUKE.