MBB: Duke 76, Pitt 47 Post-game Thread

Our lead was cut from 17 to 11 with Evans and foster in. Back to the starters and the lead moved steadily up to 29. Better defense and better offense by far.

We don't lose with Gillis or Brown. James does an awesome job at the point.
Evans is a one trick pony and Foster is a ? trick pony at this point.
 
The late 80s teams were all really good on D with Amaker, King, Ferry, Snyder, Strickland, Brickey, Henderson, ... A big difference was we used to overplay passing lanes aggressively back then and lesser teams couldn't even get into their offenses.

Yeah, 1999 and 2010 both defended too.
My memories of the 1987 team was stifling defense in Amaker’s senior year. That 88 team was Billy King’s senior year and had those lanky wings in Henderson and Strickland. Great defensive teams for sure.
 
The late 80s teams were all really good on D with Amaker, King, Ferry, Snyder, Strickland, Brickey, Henderson, ... A big difference was we used to overplay passing lanes aggressively back then and lesser teams couldn't even get into their offenses.

Yeah, 1999 and 2010 both defended too.
It was a different game back then in the 80s. Lots of muggings, really hard hand checks, no worries about flagrant fouls unless there was blood and an ambulance called. Remember the Big East even went to 6 fouls for a DQ for a while. And it was the age of the Pistons/Bad Boys. Really hard to compare today's game with ones then... That being said, Duke's calling card has generally been defense when it comes to its elite teams.

9F
 
Jaland Lowe and Ishmael Leggett entered the game averaging a combined 35 points per game.

Duke held them to 12 total points on a Mark Macon-like 5 for 27 shooting performance.
I was going to make this exact point - just phenomenal defense. I also noticed that Pitt was the first team to repeatedly get Maluach switched onto a guard defensively, yet they couldn't take advantage. Held them to about 30% both from two and from three, and as a team Pitt was averaging 84ppg yet we held them to 47.

It didn't even feel like we played our best game, as we had way too many turnovers (14), many of which were careless, we werent hitting free throws, and our offense took a while to get going as has often been the case this season. But our defense just carries us through any offensive lulls, and once we get rolling it's game over.
 
I love Evans. His one trick is pretty good when it’s good. Tonight it wasn’t good. He hasn’t shot as well lately. He’s gonna have to show more tricks if he wants to get more minutes.
He wasn't needed tonight, not really. But if the team ever seems to be lagging offensively, I'm sure the staff will put him in. Though I agree, he's in a little slump right now. But shots come and go for shooters, I'm not all that concerned about his offense at this point.

But I am still concerned about his defense. It's gotten a bit better, but he's still out of position at times. If he wants more than cameos for points, he still needs to pick that up.

9F
 
Does anybody have any guesses as to what was wrong with the floor over near Duke's bench? Despite the towel guys out there constantly both teams slipped several times
 
I love Evans. His one trick is pretty good when it’s good. Tonight it wasn’t good. He hasn’t shot as well lately. He’s gonna have to show more tricks if he wants to get more minutes.
He did have a really strong rebound, right before bricking an open three. I think the rest of his game besides shooting is coming around, and we have the luxury of bringing him on slowly.

Jon really rode the starters tonight - four guys with 33+ minutes and only Brown had double figure minutes off the bench. Not sure if it was due to ineffectiveness or a deliberate attempt to practice heavy minutes. I did think that Gillis gave really good minutes in the first half.
 
He wasn't needed tonight, not really. But if the team ever seems to be lagging offensively, I'm sure the staff will put him in. Though I agree, he's in a little slump right now. But shots come and go for shooters, I'm not all that concerned about his offense at this point.

But I am still concerned about his defense. It's gotten a bit better, but he's still out of position at times. If he wants more than cameos for points, he still needs to pick that up.

9F
Love Evans but if he's not hitting shots, he's a net negative on the court. And he was never going to shoot 50%+ on the year. I think Jon continues to give him opportunities but the rotation will tighten.
 
That Flagg poster was so so nice.

This teams defence is as elite as I've seen in the last decade.

Maybe its a level of competition thing, but Pitt aren't a bad team and were ranked in the pre season. Crazy we held them to basically nothing for the last 8 minutes.
 
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