Duke MBB vs. Clemson Post-Game Thread

[Billy Dat]

I agree with all the sentiment about tonight's great win...I wanted to mention how much I liked Henderson calling for the ball and taking his man off the dribble. When he is aggressive but in control like that, it's very hard to keep him from getting a good shot or to the line.

I have heard Coach talk alot about how D'Antoni has a set-up in his system where the ball goes to a 2 or a 3 at the elbow or just foul line extended. The use it on the national team with Carmelo and Lebron. I have noticed K adding that wrinkle on this team and it is usually Singler and Henderson getting the ball. It's a great little set that allows that player many shooting, driving or passing options.

I guess we all know that if we don't hit a good percentage from 3, we're going to have long nights. Luckily we've got a lot of guys that can shoot. I'd like to see Paulus snap out of his shooting funk.

Clemson really impressed me. Ollie Purnell is the real deal. He must stare at the ceiling all night, though, thinking about foul shooting. That must kill their fans. Booker may head to the L after this year - he is a beast. Even though he didn't start well, that PG Stitt is going to give us fits for years to come. He is tough!

Great great win. I think it's our best league win since beating BC on the road last year (that was a huge game at the time which we never built on).

[CrazyCat]

Many good choices for MOTM tonight. Nelson will be the winner, but many players had good games -- Henderson, Scheyer, Smith, Paulus (in the second half), and of course Singler. He was a man among men tonight.
I was impressed by the team effort -- particularly in the second half, after we had worn them down in the first half. A good win.

I have to agree, I was impressed with the second half as well. All the names mentioned above really came out, and came together as a team and pulled it off. Very poud of them tonight. I thought they looked good.

[dukestheheat]

I like Coach Purnell as well. You gotta admit some of his facial expressions are rather comedic. He also took last year's clock issue at Cameron very well.

dth.

[tbyers11]

I love Taylor King... I love his enthusiasm, his heart, and (of course) his shot!

But Taylor hasn't learned to play Duke defense and, in truth, he is not one of the fastest players on the team. He made two egregious errors when he first went in, Coach gave him one more play, and he didn't do well on that.

We didn't need Taylor on offense tonight... we could have used his body to eat up space but not at the cost of not getting back on defense. Like Pocius, Taylor is a project in the making... I think he'll be great when he thinks DEFENSE FIRST, Then shoot!

What a great game! Cameron was ROCKING! And to have Maryland beat Carolina.. if only our water shortage would disappear and world peace would appear, my life would be perfect!

Go Devils!!!!

I agree with what Deb said.

King is a great shooter and has great enthusiasm. However, the other aspects of his game are not as developed yet. I think his minutes will be up and down depending mostly on defensive matchups (he can't guard true posts very effectively and isn't quick enough to guard most wings). Tonight against Clemson the defensive emphasis was all-out pressure. Combine that with a stellar defensive performance from Lance and the minutes just weren't there. A couple of bad plays in the first half including one ill-advised long inbounds pass didn't help his cause any.

There have been games this year, and there will be more, where King will play a vital role. Tonight just wasn't one of them.

[tbyers11]

I guess we all know that if we don't hit a good percentage from 3, we're going to have long nights. Luckily we've got a lot of guys that can shoot. I'd like to see Paulus snap out of his shooting funk.

I agree that we generally have to have a good night from 3 to beat good teams. That is what makes tonight's victory even more impressive. We shot 53.4% overall (31-58) but only 31.8% from 3 (7-22). That means we shot 66.7% (24-36) from 2. A lot of layups will help that stat . We also shot 75% (24-32) from the FT line. That is a good sign.

Big win against a solid team. I especially liked that we won by imposing our will (lots of defensive pressure out front) on a team that wants to play a half-court offensive game.

[Billy Dat]

I forgot to wax poetic about Singler. I am trying to thinking of another time that a consensus top 10 player out of HS has been so willing to put aside his ego and fill a role that he was never asked to play before for the good of the team. He is literally carrying our front line, I can imagine what would be happening to us up front without his defense, rebounding, and simple presence on the court. Then, every once in a while he steps out and nails a crucially important 3 just to remind us, "I am KYLE SINGLER" (said with Seinfeldian 'I am Keith Hernandez" panache). As Double Down Trent said to Sue about Mikey, "God Bless that Kid"

[3rd Dukie]

A fall from #1 beyond #3 is tough. But, they did lose to an unranked at home. And, as mentioned Maryland did have some bad losses. We are either #3 or #4 and either is a great honor and well deserved by this team. Very fun to watch these guys!

I wholeheartedly agree! On all points. And, as I said, I'm not necessarily convinced that we are a better team right now. Just give us a couple more weeks!

[3rd Dukie]

It almost skipped my mind to mention what the announcers were saying about our forcing Clemson to "downsize" to match up with us, as opposed to the other way around. I think someone was talking about this in another thread earlier in the week. It was obvious that we were forcing them to play our game at times, not a good thing for them.

Finally, I was very impressed with Clem's sportsmanship. There was no "chippiness" at all that I saw. I regard this as a reflection of Oliver Purnell's character. He seems to be quite the class act, perhaps more so than some other coaches in the league whom we may encountered in, oh say, the last 3-4 days.

[tbyers11]

Finally, I was very impressed with Clem's sportsmanship. There was no "chippiness" at all that I saw. I regard this as a reflection of Oliver Purnell's character. He seems to be quite the class act, perhaps more so than some other coaches in the league whom we may encountered in, oh say, the last 3-4 days.

Or the team (and its coach) that we will encounter in the next 3-4 days .

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Finally, I was very impressed with Clem's sportsmanship. There was no "chippiness" at all that I saw. I regard this as a reflection of Oliver Purnell's character.

I was surprised, but pleased, that when they were down by 12+ with 40 seconds left they backed off and didn't extend the game with fouls. I think they conceded a series or two before I would have, but I don't doubt Purnell's competitiveness one bit.

[lmb]

Just an additional comment on Lance. I noticed that he's calmed down a lot on defense. He used to hop up and down and wave his arms like a crazy man. Last year, I appreciated that energy and enthusiasm since he was a freshman, but tonight he played defense in a much more controlled and effective manner. Great job!

[ArtVandelay]

Points that may or may not need to be made:

1) Clemson is a very solid team this year. Booker is indeed a beast, although to respond to an earlier post, I question his NBA future somewhat (at least in terms of jumping this year). He's a bit smallish for the NBA 4, but he's strong enough to compensate for it in college. On a related point, agreed on all accounts about Purnell. He's my favorite ACC coach outside of K and Leitao (went to UVA for law school).

2). Our trapping D in the first half was reminiscent of the Carolina game in 2001, the first big game after Boozer went down. With Casey starting, we went to the backcourt trap with Shane and it worked beautifully. What a good job preventing Booker from taking over the game. K clearly learned his lesson against Pitt.

3) I was a little surprised that we didn't look for Kyle to put the ball on the floor more against the big men. Considering that he's at a disadvantage on the defensive end, you'd think we'd want to exploit his quickness mathcup on the other end. Instead, he seems to be content to pick and pop. Now, granted, 3-7 for 3 is not too shabby and he has hit some BIG shots on that play this year. But even though he's not really a go-to scorer putting the ball on the floor yet, considering that he's often being guarded by a bigger guy (Booker), wouldn't we want to exploit that, especially to try to get him in foul trouble? Jumbo made this point w/r/t to Blair in the Pitt game, and I was hoping we'd see it a bit more tonight. I mean, I'm nitpicking here obviously. That and Greg's shooting slump are my only real criticisms tonight. Considering the competition, I think this is about as good as we've looked all year.

4) Where was the "Go to hell Carolina" chant in the waning minutes, especially in light of today's outcomes?

For the record, Go to hell Carolina, go to hell!

[loran16]

I was surprised, but pleased, that when they were down by 12+ with 40 seconds left they backed off and didn't extend the game with fouls. I think they conceded a series or two before I would have, but I don't doubt Purnell's competitiveness one bit.

Not to mention the fact that Mays stayed behind to shake all our players' hands. Good sportsmanship indeed. A nice change from FSU.

[devildeac]

first time poster, sorry if i dont quit know the rules of the forum, but wouldnt king be perfect for instant offense? does K not trust king when it matters. if i was coach he's the one guy i would want to take the last shot? of course i could be out of line, this is my first time posting

Welcome to DBR. Stick around for a while, read the 'rules/decorum' for posting located on the sticky at the top of the main board and enjoy the chatter.

TK looked out of sync tonite with a missed shot or two, a TO or 2, a missed defensive assignment or two and probably bad match-ups with the clemson bigs and some decent speed on the perimeter. He responded well a few games ago after some pine time he earned for the same reasons, particularly a bad early shot or 2 in a possession and a pass or two into the 3rd row. Most of us here are quite confident he'll continue to learn and improve.

[devildeac]

It almost skipped my mind to mention what the announcers were saying about our forcing Clemson to "downsize" to match up with us, as opposed to the other way around. I think someone was talking about this in another thread earlier in the week. It was obvious that we were forcing them to play our game at times, not a good thing for them.

Finally, I was very impressed with Clem's sportsmanship. There was no "chippiness" at all that I saw. I regard this as a reflection of Oliver Purnell's character. He seems to be quite the class act, perhaps more so than some other coaches in the league whom we may encountered in, oh say, the last 3-4 days.

I made a very similar comment to a couple clemson fans sitting in front of us after the game. They cheered and clapped appropriately when clemson made some nice plays with no woofing. I also complimented them on a tough game and the fact they did not resort to thuggery when they got behind like some other rugby squads do regularly when they play us.

[wilko]

We have a big win. The Holes have a big Loss.

It dont get much better than that in my book...

About our Win... Loved what I saw. Lotta heart. Guys fought and wanted the win. If we get thru the 1st half of the Conf. sched w/o Zoubek I think him coming bag will add just enuff of a wrinkle and hopefully to keep teams off balance. Learning how to play w/o him should help us protect him better once hes back in the rotation.

Markie was the man!

Gee was close behind. When he can get a step or two before takeoff he is amazing. Starting to show good consistency.

Paulus showed up at winning time after forcing a few things early.

Smith is growing every game. What a player for us he is..

Lance had a nice game with energy and hustle. Wish he could get a couple of shots to go down. David too. Nice effort from both guys.

Jon is.. making a habit out of GREAT play coming off the bench. No other way to say it. He a momentum builder.

King had a quiet game. Having to go against Clemsons bigs was not a great matchup for him.. Hopefully things will "click" for to earn more court time other than just shooting. We need him.

Kyle had the a very quiet 12pts.. I guess hes the bass player .. you only notice when he not there or messes up. An amazing Frosh!!

Feel like im forgetting someone..

No doubt about it this was a team win!
NO clock BS... or funky call... or anything else. We BEAT them. That feels pretty good and makes the critics pause for a second or two... at least.

Our pressure outta scare the living snot outta folks now.. I wonder if it will start psyching the opponents out at all.. I sure hope so.

[jimsumner]

FWIW,

K said after the game that Clemson was the best team Duke had played this season.

Purnell is a class act. The highlight of the post-game was some nimrod asking Purnell if Clemson had been struggling from the foul line. OP laughed and asked him if he had been living in a cave. He could have really teed off on the guy (local radio station that shall remain nameless) but didn't.

Friday Nelson said that Duke's goal was to try to wear down Clemson by running and running. That goal was accomplished. Purnell cited fatigue after the game.

Most impressive stat? Duke had two turnovers in the second half, against an athletic team that starts pressing as soon as they get off the bus. And when they beat the press, they kept attacking, numerous players from every angle. Playing only eight players after intermission, with McClure playing sparingly, Duke was the fresher, sharper team down the stretch.

[DukeFencer]

Kyle's "quiet 12" was really a very vocal 17... IMO

[dukie8]

so does lunardi bump us up to a 1 and drop unc to a 2 on monday?

[DukeBlood]

Singler scored 17.. . Not sure if it was Vocal as fencer pointed out. Certainly wasnt quiet though.