Clemson 79 Duke 72. Put your post-game thoughts here

[Duke79UNLV77]

Carey is having to adjust to being doubled from different spots at this level. Mason had to adjust to that his senior year. It's a learning process for most players not named Zion.

I didn't get to see the first half and understand that AOC and Hurt didn't play well, although they were 3-7 and Hurt had some rebounds. I would have liked to see them get some minutes in the 2nd half. With Moore and Joey out and their minutes very limited, our vaunted depth was abandoned in the second half, while we were using a lot of energy pressing and trying to come back.

Clemson shot a bit out of their heads.

Our free throw shooting is a weakness. After swishing about 4 3s to start the year, Carey hasn't hit an outside shot for a while. He's streaky on free throws.

[soflabluedevil]

This game reminded me of the Miami loss in 2015 where the point guard bragged afterwards that he knew how to beat us. Tonight we kept overplaying 30 feet from the basket, bringing over a help defender to protect against a screen, then they'd cut to the basket and pass to a wide open man in the paint. Repeat 20 times. I was hoping we would dial back the pressure or go zone or something, but we never adjusted. On the offensive game it felt like 75% of our turnovers were caused by lobbing it aimlessly into the paint when Vernon was double teamed and not open at all. I don't know what we were thinking.

The full court press was effective but we don't have the personnel to play it for 20 full minutes. We got a couple turnovers but gave up just twice as many wide open threes, and it really wore us out. Stanley was a guy we could ill afford to lose as we started the game minus two wing players, but after he picked up his fourth he may as well have stayed out of the game because he was so determined to not foul out that he played matador defense at the rim the rest of the way.

Foul shooting was bad but somewhat offset by good three point shooting. If we had hit one fewer three and made three more free throws then I think the percentages would be fairly in line with our season percentages. Goldwire's confidence was shot after missing those two layups, he was clearly afraid to shoot after that. He did hit that big three to cut it to 5. Alex missed several layups, as did Carey. Lots of things went wrong.

Great game from Jack, loved seeing him knock down a couple threes, grab tough boards, generate turnovers and capitalize on a couple close in buckets. We needed contributions from more guys and to better capitalize on our advantage in the paint, but just didn't get it done. Javin gave us nothing, Hurt gave us basically nothing.

Big picture-wise I'm not too down about the loss. Looking forward to seeing how we respond Saturday.

Another game where we allow other team a layup drill. Theirs were not contested while ours were. Playing a bad 3 pt shooting team 25+ feet out makes no sense. Yes - they hit very high % of 3s but many/most were uncontested. They cannot play better than tonight and won't. We were mediocre at best.

[SouthernDukie]

I now fully believe Coach K when he talks about the reason he’s run 10 deep this year. He’s not just blowing smoke this time around when he talks about the importance of the bench. We really do need our full complement of players because of the inconsistency of so many night in and night out.

[jv001]

I now fully believe Coach K when he talks about the reason he’s run 10 deep this year. He’s not just blowing smoke this time around when he talks about the importance of the bench. We really do need our full complement of players because of the inconsistency of so many night in and night out.

I think you may be correct. Our bench has played well when we had all ten healthy. If one of them has an off night, someone else seems to step up. But tonight only Jack stepped up and Hurt a starter played pretty poorly. Still I wish Coach K would have rested Vernon more. He's not a good foul shooter and when he's tired, he's a really poor foul shooter. At least that's the way it looks to me. GoDuke!

[dukelifer]

Clemson shot pretty out of their heads, compared to what they normally do. This is a team routed by South Carolina on that same court.

Duke shot 50% 40% from 3. Duke just could not stop them. The D has been good this year but not tonight. Hopefully they can regroup.

[CoachJ10]

Where are opponents play with 200% of their usual intensity, 200% of their normal basketball IQ, and just make plays that they dont against everyone else.

PS Clemson traveled at least 6 times tonight that weren't called. Hard to defend those.

[Kfanarmy]

Where are opponents play with 200% of their usual intensity, 200% of their normal basketball IQ, and just make plays that they dont against everyone else.

PS Clemson traveled at least 6 times tonight that weren't called. Hard to defend those.

Mehhh. I thought they committed a few moving screens as well, but they really just made shots...and outworked Duke for the first 20 or so minutes.

[sagegrouse]

I now fully believe Coach K when he talks about the reason he’s run 10 deep this year. He’s not just blowing smoke this time around when he talks about the importance of the bench. We really do need our full complement of players because of the inconsistency of so many night in and night out.

Look -- my hunch is that Coach K is going soft. He got used to having ten players to shuttle in and out -- now he only has eight -- and he's lost.

[jv001]

Where are opponents play with 200% of their usual intensity, 200% of their normal basketball IQ, and just make plays that they dont against everyone else.

PS Clemson traveled at least 6 times tonight that weren't called. Hard to defend those.

Refs didn't lose the game for Duke tonight but they didn't do us any favors either. Not that I expect them to. However they did get away with some travels and a couple of out of bounds plays sure looked to be off the Tigers. I had a bad feeling when I saw Mike Eades as one of the officials. GoDuke!

[dukelifer]

Look -- my hunch is that Coach K is going soft. He got used to having ten players to shuttle in and out -- now he only has eight -- and he's lost.

Any info on the Press conference - did he ask for White to fire him?

[sagegrouse]

I now fully believe Coach K when he talks about the reason he’s run 10 deep this year. He’s not just blowing smoke this time around when he talks about the importance of the bench. We really do need our full complement of players because of the inconsistency of so many night in and night out.

Oh, my! Hurt was awful -- O'Connell was awful -- Carey was semi-awful -- Jordan was semi -awful (missed lay-ups -- gimme a break!). Cassius got into foul trouble. Not to mention Baker and Moore, who had the indecency to get injured.

That leaves three players -- Tre, White, and Javin. And DeLaurier did not do a lot to distinguish himself.

[Mak P]

My thoughts on this is

AOC is by far the most disappointing Duke player in recent years. You hit the top/side of the backboard

[devildeac]

MOTM poll conspicuous by its absence.

[UrinalCake]

This game reminded me of the Miami loss in 2015 where the point guard bragged afterwards that he knew how to beat us

Quoting myself to say that that game (and the State game that preceded it) served as a turning point to the 2015 season. The story goes that the coaching staff stayed up all night after the game discussing how to fix the defense, and Capel suggested a zone which they unveiled in their next game against - wait for it - Louisville.

I don’t expect a complete overhaul of the team, as we are not “broken,” but I do expect adjustments to be made. Losing has a way of exposing your flaws, which are still there when you win but are easier to overlook. Other teams will try to duplicate what Clemson did. To some extent SFA did it as well, they spread out our defense and made us guard in space which is not only our strength. So I’m looking forward to seeing what Saturday brings. A lot on the line in this game which will likely determine the ACC regular season champion. Sorry, the “team that has the best record in the ACC at the end of the regular season.” Didn’t want to set off any alarms 8-)

[CameronBornAndBred]

MOTM poll conspicuous by its absence.

I'd give the MOTM to Joey, since he proved his worth to the team through his own absence.

[dukelifer]

My thoughts on this is

AOC is by far the most disappointing Duke player in recent years. You hit the top/side of the backboard

Really? How recent? This year?

[jv001]

Really? How recent? This year?

I checked the end of Chat to see what DBR fans thought of the game and it seems two of our regular posters wanted to actually fight it out. I'm glad that I wasn't on chat tonight.

GoDuke!

[dukelifer]

I checked the end of Chat to see what DBR fans thought of the game and it seems two of our regular posters wanted to actually fight it out. I'm glad that I wasn't on chat tonight.

GoDuke!

I was off chat tonight as well- never fun when losing to a team that Duke should beat

[ndkjr70]

If Alex O’Connell isn’t playing himself out of any conceivable non-blowout rotation, I’m officially baffled at Coach K.

He does nothing on defense. Nothing. And if he isn’t producing on offense (hitting the shot clock doesn’t count), he needs to be on the bench.

If Joey Baker got those minutes today, this is a win. If Wendell Moore got those minutes today, it’s a win and we cover.

I saw highlights of freshman year AOC yesterday. It is shocking just how much worse he’s gotten.

Sad to see.

[ndkjr70]

One more thing people might not be mentioning; every minute DeLaurier plays makes me more and more upset Marques Bolden decided to leave. He seems like a great team leader and he’s an athletic freak, but Javin is just not a good basketball player on a team that has Final Four aspirations.