MBB: Duke 84, Syracuse 72 Post-Game Thread

[BandAlum83]

In the end it wasn’t close and there is so much to improve on. Z’s first game back...Duke will be better tomorrow.

As I said before I signed off from the chat room: "We will win this comfortably."

I couldn't take more than 5 minutes in there.

[BandAlum83]

I don’t think we take that one if Battle is healthy. Still, when it came down to winning time we got stops and hit shots.

Totally disagree. It would have been a very different game, and probably Howard doesn't go off, but we would have held Battle in check and won just as comfortably.

This team is so good, I think they start to have too much fun sometimes and lose some discipline. That's how we lost that 17 point lead, IMHO.

[Kedsy]

ADVANCED STATS

Possessions: 71.4 (way faster than Syracuse's average pace, which was an advantage for us)

OFFENSE

oRtg: 1.19 (this is awesome against a top 25 defense; our adjusted oRtg was 1.30, which is likewise awesome)
eFG%: 60.2% (very strong)
3pt%: 30.4% (right about average for this year's Duke team)
2pt%: 71.0% (fabulous)
%threes: 42.6% (believe it or not, this is the lowest pct of threes out of shots taken in Duke's three games against Syracuse this season (though obviously still too high))
FT rate: 51.9% (padded a bit by late-game fouling, but still very strong)
OR%: 41.9% (really good)
TO%: 25.2% (dreadful; our worst turnover performance of the season)
a/to: 0.89:1
%assisted: 55.2%
fast break pts: 15 (17.9% of our points)


DEFENSE

dRtg: 1.02 (adjusted that's 0.97, not horrid but not good either)
eFG%: 56.7% (somewhat horrid)
3pt%: 42.8% (2nd too-strong effort from behind the line in the three Syracuse games)
2pt%: 51.6% (weak)
%threes: 40.4% (too high if you're going to let them shoot as well as they did from three)
FT rate: 42.3% (way too high)
DR%: 73.5% (very good)
TO%: 23.8% (really good; I guess Zion does matter, huh?)
a/to: 0.41:1
%assisted: 28.0%
fast break pts: 10 (13.9% of their points; not great but not terrible)
block%: 7.7%; 12.9% of 2-point shots (even without Marques, this team can block shots)
steal%: 19.6% (with Zion back we once again looked like the best stealing team in the country)


Defense was adequate, offense was great. I haven't read through the thread yet, but anyone complaining that we need more offensive weapons is just being silly.

[TNTDevil]

We all know Zion is incredible. But let’s talk about some of the other takeaways:

-JG is a key part of this team, there’s no more argument on that. He influences a game purely on D. His matchup against Buddy turned the game as much as anything else.

-Don’t overreact to Cam’s struggles. He’s going to have to adjust more than anyone to Zion returning and his role changing again. But regardless, he competes on D even when he struggles on O, a quality that not every player has.

-I love Javin on D and on the boards, but we’re gonna miss Marques on offense. There were a few passes that resulted in turnovers to Javin that are buckets for Marques.

-Besides Zion being Zion we shouldn’t overreact to heavily to anything from this game. Syracuse is a unique test that is always going too make an opposition look awkward. There’s a reason they always seem to make it farther in the tourney than they should. The turnover problems tonight were just as much a function of them as us.

Great post. Emphasis on Goldwire's impact. He shut-down B2, literally. Adding five points...BONUS.

Really, quietly spectacular.

And, I know I'm the odd-man...but, I prefer JDL to Bolden. Love me some Marques but, JDL's energy is just amazing.

[Scorp4me]

I said back in the Jordan Goldwire appreciation thread "I've said all along Jordan was going to surprise some people. I know he surprised a lot last night, but I don't think that's all he's got." Glad he proved me right. I know people won't quit doubting him, but I hope now more people will be pulling for him.

[Steven43]

Great post. Emphasis on Goldwire's impact. He shut-down B2, literally. Adding five points...BONUS.

Really, quietly spectacular.

And, I know I'm the odd-man...but, I prefer JDL to Bolden. Love me some Marques but, JDL's energy is just amazing.

You are definitely not the odd-man out; I agree with you 100% about Javin. I likewise concur with your take on Goldwire. This was the best game of his career. If he can continue to play like this, well, look out. It is these types of unexpectedly strong contributions from unsung players that solidifies a team and makes them truly formidable when combined with very talented players playing at or near their potential. That was the Blue Devils in the last 8-10 minutes of the game. Carolina had better be ready because a revitalized and hungry Duke is coming for vengeance.

[BLPOG]

Yo, mods! JD is getting a little ahead of himself (and the space-time continuum) with that frontpage article title.

[UrinalCake]

I was kind of questioning the Jones/Goldwire lineup during the game because neither guy has to be guarded behind the arc so the Syracuse zone could pack it in even more. But I guess K decided it was a worthwhile trade off to have his D on Boeheim’s kid. We really struggled to get the ball inside the zone, so many of our turnovers came from forcing it into the middle among a crowd of defenders. Fortunately we are unlikely to encounter a defense like this again, but there was a lot of room for improvement for everybody not named Zion.

Obviously Z was the story of the game though. He was just unstoppable. Tre was forced to take a lot more shots than he normally would, and it was good to see some of them finally fall in the final minutes. He was really clutch at the free throw line too.

I kind of feel bad for RJ - he threw down some monster dunks, but nobody even pays attention because they can’t compare to Zion’s.

[lotusland]

Great post. Emphasis on Goldwire's impact. He shut-down B2, literally. Adding five points...BONUS.

Really, quietly spectacular.

And, I know I'm the odd-man...but, I prefer JDL to Bolden. Love me some Marques but, JDL's energy is just amazing.

I don’t necessarily prefer Jav to Bolden but, against the Cheats, K pretty much sat Bolden voluntarily in game one when they went small. Jav never posts up so maybe Zion will have a little more room to work. Bolden has been solid all year and even excellent at times. Jav is foul prone so it’s best to have both available to play according to the matchups but uNCheat may be a good matchup for Jav and the small lineup.

[Emerrick]

6 turnovers by Barrett is my only real concern with the game. He has to be better with the ball. He seems to have regressed a bit with TOs. Perhaps it was just him trying to do too much without Zion and he’ll settle. He is the second worst in the league. I get that he has the ball in his hands a lot, but many of his TOs seem largely unforced. Nonetheless it is something to watch. Cam had 4 as well (he’s 8th in ACC). Collectively, that’s a possible 20 point swing.

[DUKIE V(A)]

Totally disagree. It would have been a very different game, and probably Howard doesn't go off, but we would have held Battle in check and won just as comfortably.

This team is so good, I think they start to have too much fun sometimes and lose some discipline. That's how we lost that 17 point lead, IMHO.

Agree with you. Battle is a heck of a player, but a ball dominant one. Syracuse actually moves the ball better without Battle. Howard and Buddy are not nearly the factors with Battle playing. Still a 12-15 point win.

[arnie]

I don’t think we take that one if Battle is healthy. Still, when it came down to winning time we got stops and hit shots.

I disagree here - think Howard was spectacular because Battle didn’t play. If Battle plays, doubt we notice Howard except for the tripping/shoving.

[Troublemaker]

I don’t think we take that one if Battle is healthy. Still, when it came down to winning time we got stops and hit shots.

Not sure Battle is a big enough upgrade over Buddy Boeheim (or Frank Howard in this game) for you to think that. And, with coach Boeheim, it can be close to a 1-for-1 replacement since he rides his starters at least as much as Coach K. If Battle played, he could've gone for 40 minutes. I think Buddy Boeheim stretching the floor (41% from 3 in ACC) might make Syracuse better team or at least as good a team -- just in a different way -- than if Battle (32% this season, 33% for his career) had played.

This was a good, successful outing by Duke. Zion is back, looking great, playing great, and not tentative. We were average to poor in the halfcourt as expected, forcing passes into a packed-in zone. But we turned Syracuse over enough and got enough transition to create separation, in combination with Zion's individual brilliance.

Now let's see what this team can do against UNC's man-to-man.

[Saratoga2]

My thoughts:Syracuse will be a tough team to play in the big dance as most teams outside the ACC will not have played against a zone like theirs. They also have several solid 3 point shooters and with Battle a versatile ball handler/scorer. That was a good win by us last night.

One strength last night was our ball pressure that created turnovers leading to points. Both Zion and RJ are tough to stop on breakaways where there is only one defender back. Hope we can continue to force turnovers going forward.

Zion's scoring came largely off of turnovers, offensive rebounds, lobs and getting the ball inside. He did hit a 3 but he only hit 2 for 9 from the line, so that is an area that may get better next out.

RJ is also a great finisher. Unfortunately, when we went to the half court offense it frequently led to us turning the ball over. It looks like we had a plan of feeding Zion inside the zone. When it wasn't there, we still tried to force it, hence several turnovers early on. In addition, our half court offense looked stagnant, with a ball handler and little motion by our off the ball players. Getting low on the shot clock and driving into the teeth of the defense caused more turnovers and charge calls. They left Tre virtually unguarded from 3 and he is not strong from there.

Then there were the gratutitous turnovers with ball thrown wildly away. AOC had a couple, so did Tre and RJ. Those need to be cleaned up going forward.

Cam's offense was very weak as he just didn't look comfortable. He can look a lot like a new freshman at times, but his defense is still a strong point. He does need to avoid the charging fouls. Looks like he was told to be more aggressive going to the basket, and by gorry, he is trying to do what he has been told to do.

Great that Tre found his offensive game in the second half. He has one and his points were key to the win. Hitting FTs down the stretch was a way to seal the game.

Goldwire had a nice defensive contribution applying pressure to Boeheim and also making a couple of excellent offensive plays. Maybe these games will be his coming out party.

Javin also had a nice defensive game with a key block. He runs the floor well and we need that as our transition defense was weak for a significant period of the game.

[Lurkingdukedog]

6 turnovers by Barrett is my only real concern with the game. He has to be better with the ball. He seems to have regressed a bit with TOs. Perhaps it was just him trying to do too much without Zion and he’ll settle. He is the second worst in the league. I get that he has the ball in his hands a lot, but many of his TOs seem largely unforced. Nonetheless it is something to watch. Cam had 4 as well (he’s 8th in ACC). Collectively, that’s a possible 20 point swing.

In both situations, at least two of those turnovers are the results of charges. While many of the charges are judgment calls (and I recognize my bias) it seems that these two get more than their fair share. As their playing experience grows (here and in the pros), waiting to draw the charge on either of them will become an increasingly ineffective strategy as they'll learn that sense on when to stop and pop or stop and dish.

[WillJ]

JWill's take on Howard's attempted trip was far too harsh IMO. I realize that ESPN's inspired-by-reality-TV goal is to ramp up drama, but they should really cut these kids a little slack when their emotions get the better of them. Of course, they should have done the same for Grayson, too, but that's water under the bridge.

[jv001]

I guess Zion didn't have any rust to wear off. Well, maybe his FT shooting. What a performance from this super young man. Tre came alive offensively in the 2nd half, Jordan shut down Buddy Boeheim and made a couple of baskets and 1 FT and Javin played good defense. The negatives: RJ and Cam's turnovers, Javin failing to catch the ball in the post(1st half). I know Zion had around 36 minutes, but Coach K managed some rest around the 4 minute marks for the big guy. Now let's beat the tar out of the tarcheats. GoDuke!

Just add: One of the Raycom announcers mentioned Zion got onto Jack for not taking an open 3 pointer off a pass from him. Then a couple of seconds after he passed up the shot, Duke turned the ball over. That announcer said something like; If Zion told me to do something, I'd sure do what he says. GoDuke!

[construe]

I said back in the Jordan Goldwire appreciation thread "I've said all along Jordan was going to surprise some people. I know he surprised a lot last night, but I don't think that's all he's got."

If my math is correct, Goldwire scored 10x above his avg last night! Now if we could just get RJ or Zion to do that, they'd score, what, 200+ pts? I'd be ok with that...

[Rich]

My only complaint with the game was that Dolezaj didn't try to take another Zion charge. That was fun to watch the first time!

[FerryFor50]

Not sure Battle is a big enough upgrade over Buddy Boeheim (or Frank Howard in this game) for you to think that. And, with coach Boeheim, it can be close to a 1-for-1 replacement since he rides his starters at least as much as Coach K. If Battle played, he could've gone for 40 minutes. I think Buddy Boeheim stretching the floor (41% from 3 in ACC) might make Syracuse better team or at least as good a team -- just in a different way -- than if Battle (32% this season, 33% for his career) had played.

This was a good, successful outing by Duke. Zion is back, looking great, playing great, and not tentative. We were average to poor in the halfcourt as expected, forcing passes into a packed-in zone. But we turned Syracuse over enough and got enough transition to create separation, in combination with Zion's individual brilliance.

Now let's see what this team can do against UNC's man-to-man.

Especially given that Tre shut down Battle in the 2nd Syracuse game. Tre was injured in the first one, so that obviously played into the loss the first time.