Duke 72, Kentucky 77 Post Game Thread

Saratoga2 said:
We lack depth at the center position. Khaman makes scoring against us in the paint difficult but we are limited when he goes out, especially against teams who can put a number of rugged bigs on the floor. Once Khaman had to leave the game with cramps we were vulnerable inside. Patrick would probably be the best answer to fill the void, but his availability is uncertain.

The expectations for our offensive game is that we had numerous good shooters from outside, yet that wasn't evident tonight. Proctor had a nice first half but neither Foster or Proctor helped the offense in the second half. Kentucky could concentrate on Flagg and KIneppel and limit our scoring. Was it 26 in the second half?

Scheyer's approach to the end of game was to give the ball to Flagg and ask him to win the game for us. Three turnovers resulted since Flagg tried to go one on 2 or 3 and while he is great, he stillo can be defended. Why not pass the ball since others we more open? I hate to think it was because no one else seemed to be able to hit a shot.

Any dream of an undefeated season is now gone and Scheyer is going to have to have the team do a reality check. Arizona away and Kansas at a neutral site are coming up soon.
Click to expand...
Any dream of an undefeated season? If you had such a dream it may as well be deflated because that was a really silly dream.
 
Edouble said:
OK! You have made your point. We're gonna continue to talk about the game.
Click to expand...
Haha. Let's talk about the game. Maybe Jon should have run the offense and not have banked on iso Cooper in the last 2 min? Maybe our guys did not come out ready to fight in the 2H?
 
I am still really up on our team. We just had a bad shooting night.

But what happened those last several minutes? Maybe Kentucky was just so good defensively that we had no chance. If not that, why were we unable to run any offense. I realize most of our guys were cold shooting, but asking Flagg to do it all was too big of an ask. Maybe he will be able to do that someday, but apparently 17-year-old Cooper is not yet Superman.
 
FosterCoachK82 said:
I am still really up on our team. We just had a bad shooting night.

But what happened those last several minutes? Maybe Kentucky was just so good defensively that we had no chance. If not that, why were we unable to run any offense. I realize most of our guys were cold shooting, but asking Flagg to do it all was too big of an ask. Maybe he will be able to do that someday, but apparently 17-year-old Cooper is not yet Superman.
Click to expand...
Yeah I prefer to see it as a learning experience. Young team.
 
FosterCoachK82 said:
I am still really up on our team. We just had a bad shooting night.

But what happened those last several minutes? Maybe Kentucky was just so good defensively that we had no chance. If not that, why were we unable to run any offense. I realize most of our guys were cold shooting, but asking Flagg to do it all was too big of an ask. Maybe he will be able to do that someday, but apparently 17-year-old Cooper is not yet Superman.
Click to expand...
There was no offensive set. It was ISO for a crazy talented player who put the team on his back and fell short.
 
pkw said:
There was no offensive set. It was ISO for a crazy talented player who put the team on his back and fell short.
Click to expand...
Yeah he really did carry the team for a while. His back just gave out at the end. But Cooper is not a hero guy, he’s all about team. Coaches are gonna have to figure out what went wrong there.

But you gotta give it up for Kentucky, too. They were fierce in the 2nd half.
 
FosterCoachK82 said:
Yeah he really did carry the team for a while. His back just gave out at the end. But Cooper is not a hero guy, he’s all about team. Coaches are gonna have to figure out what went wrong there.
Click to expand...
I love this Duke team like all Duke teams. The key is good guard play. They have the talent. If they cut down a net in April we should print out this thread and celebrate together.
 
Saratoga2 said:
We lack depth at the center position. Khaman makes scoring against us in the paint difficult but we are limited when he goes out, especially against teams who can put a number of rugged bigs on the floor. Once Khaman had to leave the game with cramps we were vulnerable inside. Patrick would probably be the best answer to fill the void, but his availability is uncertain.
Click to expand...
The problem was compounded by Brown picking up three first half fouls. He's been fairly foul prone so far this season, it's great that he gets so many deflections but he does also pick up cheap fouls that we can't afford in big games.

Brown gives a very different look than Maluach, being able to pressure on the perimeter but not provide as much rim protection. Who knows when Ngongba will be able to be effective but I suspect it won't be until after the Kansas game.
 
pkw said:
If they cut down a net in April we should print out this thread and celebrate together.
Click to expand...
We can hang it up next to the thread that followed Jayson Tatum's home game against NC State, when he blew five layups and ended the game dribbling behind his back and off his foot, turning it over at mid court and leading to a Dennis Smith Jr. dunk. Many fans were convinced he should quit basketball after that performance.
 
Kentucky 77, Duke 72 (recap, box score, highlights, presser)

A late rally by No. 19 Kentucky led the Wildcats past No. 6 Duke, 77-72, in the Champions Classic on Tuesday, Nov. 12. Freshman Cooper Flagg scored a game-high 26 points and logged a double-double, adding a game-high 12 rebounds...

[Kon] Knueppel ended the game with 14 points and added five rebounds, the most boards in a game so far in the freshman's career. [Tyrese] Proctor logged 12 points and added three assists. The junior has dished three assists in back-to-back games.

Khaman Maluach rounded out Duke's double-digit scoring, adding 10 points on a perfect 5-for-5 from the field. The freshman also reeled in seven rebounds and blocked two shots.

Maliq Brown brought in eight caroms, the second-most by a Blue Devil, including a team-high five offensive rebounds. Caleb Foster led the team with four assists. The sophomore has ended each of the first three games this season with at least three assists, after doing so just seven times as a freshman.


The best bet of the night? The video for Duke's postgame press conference would be provided by a Kentucky source. And it was:


KSR (Kentucky Sports Radio) also has the Wildcat equivalent, featuring winning head coach Mark Pope, plus players Otega Oweh and Andrew Carr.
 
heyman25 said:
Kentucky did massive rotation in the game. They are older guys but I think Evans and Harris conceivably have got quick blows. I just hope James isn’t out for long.Big learning experience. I bet Duke doesn’t shoot this poorly ever again. Now we know Ngongba needs to be available hopefully soon or at least by December. Post game interview should be interesting. I guess they will post later today.
Click to expand...
Post game interview was brief and not very interesting. Proud of Cooper. It didn’t work out.Not any in depth discussion of second half. Most of the pundits including Jay Williams didn’t think end game decisions were good to win game.Shooting better be addressed and switching on defense.
 
brevity said:
Kentucky 77, Duke 72
Freshman Cooper Flagg scored a game-high 26 points and logged a double-double, adding a game-high 12 rebounds...


The best bet of the night? The video for Duke's postgame press conference would be provided by a Kentucky source. And it was:

Click to expand...

Much thanks! Great postgame leadership by including and constantly praising the best player in college basketball. We’re lucky as heck to have him and he will determine how far we go. Heaven help the fool who has a generational talent and has another player determining their team’s fate.
 
There is often a good amount of backlash against the "sky is falling" prognosticators, and perhaps for good reason. It's a long season. It's only game 3. But a lot of us use this thread and the largely helpful dialogue as therapy, and I think that's okay. At least it should be okay.

I am taking this loss particularly hard. I think I'm more disappointed with this one than even the Tennessee game two years ago and our Elite Eight game last season. Here's why:
  1. There was some hope based on really early returns that this team could be one of those juggernauts. Think 2015 or maybe 2019 or 2011 (without the injuries in the latter two). A lot of talent on the roster with a seemingly good mix of veteran players, solid returning backcourt players, and perhaps two superstar freshmen, one of whom many say is generational. Maybe we still can be, and I didn't expect the 2019 drubbing we gave UK in 2019, but it's awfully early in the year to take a loss in a very winnable game. Perhaps we'll still cut down nets in March and April, but expectations, for now, have been significantly tempered.
  2. Really poor game from arguably the two most important players not named Cooper - Proctor and Foster. We really need our veteran guards to make a jump this year and be bucket-getters when the going gets tough. I had hopes that both would develop a solid dribble-pen game, but I don't think we've seen that yet. I am of the camp of concerned that Foster at the point may be somewhat stifling, but I guess we don't have a better option here.
  3. We seem to have lost tonight because of two things that have plagued us in the last few years. Firstly, we got out-physical'd in the second half. That seems to be the book on us. I like the positivity on the thread that maybe this will be our worst shooting night of the season, and if so, let's get it out of the way now. But I really think the bad shooting has a lot to do with veteran, older teams playing us physically. There was hope that we could handle that better, but signs so far suggest we may have a ways to go. Secondly, we didn't come out to play in the second half. We couldn't maintain the rhythm and fluidity and tenacity from the first half (see Elite Eight game a few months ago). Our "youngness" showed up again in a frustrating way, and we got a little out-tough'd late in the game.
  4. Coach John Scheyer is definitely the coach for Duke basketball, and I'd bet most of us wouldn't trade him for any other coach in America. But it's also OK to question why he couldn't make the adjustments late in the game or help calm the team down in the second half. Yes, it's hard to make adjustments in-game, and yes, we may have been gassed. But CJS is clearly still learning himself how to get our teams to play through physicality, find really hard baskets, and play situational basketball. Tonight I am particularly bewildered as to why we didn't run offense and rather opted for Cooper-led hero ball, especially with all the other talent on the roster.
  5. There's also the prospect of our losing to the next three ranked opponents and starting the season 4-4. That would be a devastating beginning of the season with all the expectation of being a contender for banner #6. Would it be the end of the world? No. Last year we started 5-3 and got within shouting distance of a Final Four. But it would kinda suck and not bode well for banners and net-cutting later in the season. I am hoping to win 2 out of 3 against but KU, UA, and Auburn, but I am now quietly expecting only 1 win out of the 3.
Is the sky falling? No, way too early for that. But I don't see many positives out of this one, and I definitely see the same things plaguing us that have kept us from hitting our theoretical ceiling in the past. Let's see how these next three weeks go. I'm bracing myself for a tough road, but I'd obviously love to be wrong.
 
Looking back at the game, our defence was stifling though.

Especially when Khaman was on the court.

Thats going to carry us far this season as it continues to improve.
 
The cramps and injury had an impact, certainly. However, we missed two front ends and on another trip to the line for a pair, we came up empty (six potential points missed).Speaking of FTs, I think our player called for a lane violation got pushed into the lane and the officials missed it. After getting into the lane successfully, we seemed content all too often to settle for threes, expecting, I guess, to finally hit a reasonable percentage. We were outplayed in the second half and still nearly pulled it out. Cooper nearly carried us to a win. Hopefully, James is okay and Kon plays better next game.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top