MBB: Duke 76, Pitt 47 Post-game Thread

Duke 76, Pittsburgh 47 (recap, PDF box score, highlights, condensed game, full replay, presser)

A strong defensive effort by No. 4 Duke and a [19 point, 10 rebound] double-double from Cooper Flagg helped the Blue Devils (13-2, 5-0 ACC) to a 76-47 victory over Pittsburgh (12-3, 3-1 ACC) on Tuesday, Jan. 7. Five Blue Devils finished in double-figures, with Flagg joined by his classmates Kon Knueppel (17) and Khaman Maluach (11), junior Tyrese Proctor (13) and graduate Sion James (10).

Duke closed the game on an 18-0 scoring run and didn't allow a Pittsburgh point spanning the final 7:59 of the game. Overall, the Blue Devils limited the Panthers to season-lows for points (47), field goals made (18), field goal percentage (.310) and total rebounds (26).


Give the people what they want. The ACC Digital Network has Cooper Flagg's two dunks.


In addition to what's linked above, ESPN posted their highlights and also a clip of Damian Dunn's flagrant 2 foul to Tyrese Proctor's... stomach?


GoDuke has quotes from Jon Scheyer's postgame press conference.


Coach Scheyer: "Ton of respect for Pitt. I think it's crazy that they're not ranked, with what they've done this season. Jeff [Capel] and I know each other really well, and he's an amazing coach. Offensively, they made us do some different things we haven't done, because they're so explosive. They've been averaging 84 points a game. For us, we ended up switching a lot, trying to force a one-on-one, although they have really good one-on-one players. The story tonight was our collective defense. To hold them to 47 points is terrific. The job that Cooper [Flagg] did in the second half, he is so competitive, and he brings out a lot of good stuff from his teammates and for our team. To close the game on an 18-0 run was big time. I’m really proud of our team. It's good to be back in person. It’s much better than watching on TV. I'm happy they allowed me to come back. Good win tonight. We need to keep building."

Panther Lair, the Rivals affiliate site for Pittsburgh, had comments after the game from head coach Jeff Capel and guard Jaland Lowe.


Coach Capel: "We worked on some things to try to attack [Duke's defensive switching]. I thought the first 10 minutes, we did a really good job of attacking it. I thought the last 10 minutes of the first half, we didn't do as good of a job. I thought we had sometimes where we could pitch out, and we had some guys open, where we need to play off two feet and make some plays. We didn't do that, which led to some easy transition baskets for them, some transition threes. We didn't get a couple of 50-50 balls. They got about eight points in the first half on that, a couple of threes, foul where they got a couple of free throws. When you're playing against a really good team, and they're one of the best teams in the country, you have to cut down on all those things. You have to get the 50-50 balls. Your transition defense has got to be on point. There's something we talked about coming in, and in order to do that, our shot selection has to be really good, and we can't have live ball turnovers."

The Devils Den, the 247 Sports affiliate for Duke, had locker room interviews with Sion James, Kon Knueppel, and Tyrese Proctor.

 
There will be plenty of games where we can empty the bench. I think coach wanted to give them full game experience against a quality opponent without taking the foot off the gas. Check! Who knows what dividends it may bring in the future.
Agree with this. I think Scheyer used this game almost as a practice. Cooper can you play with 2 fouls in the first half (with Duke up 9); Cooper can you play when you have 3 fouls early in the second (resounding answer); trying different sets on offense; etc. That’s the only thing I can really think of to explain the most limited use of the bench in the second half that we have seen all season. They didn’t seem to be trying to run up the score so I don’t think it was any sort of “payback” from last year.
 
Foster has been doing that every game except SMU. Wasting time dribbling is not going to make a play. His lob to Khaman resulted in a turnover. He needs a lot of film and practice
I think the game is too fast for him right now. And I think that the fact that’s he’s not a natural point guard means that he may not have the court vision he needs yet (and may simply be concentrating on dribbling, which doesn’t seem…easy right now).
 
Stellar. Absolutely stellar. No (worthwhile) notes.

Subplot that will quickly get lost, but shouldn’t: Mason in the first half with Cooper in foul trouble. That was exactly why Jon went out and got that guy.
Mason's play over the past few games has been a huge development for this team. It's great that he's finally hitting shots, but really the dude just all around works his butt off on the floor. Keep this up, and we may start seeing him in as backup for more than just Cooper...
 
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 and Foster were also on court together for 2 1/2 minutes in the first half...we lost that segment 5-0. Evans will do better if on court with a better playmaker.
 
Imagine that was the loudest Cameron has been this year, although I can imagine it was super loud when Evans hit his fifth or sixth three against Auburn.
Having been in the grad student section for both of these games, I'd say the dunk today was the loudest single moment. It was funny because it felt like a pretty poor showing from Cameron, just a sleepy atmosphere, and then everyone was just screaming in disbelief for that minute after the dunk. That Evans stretch against Auburn though is the best I've heard at Cameron in quite some time though, just electric.
 
Bench was generally very poor tonight but shoutout to Mason Gillis for his minutes in the first half. Duke had gone behind for the first time after a cold stretch and Cameron was feeling a little nervous to me, especially with Cooper going out with those quick fouls. Mason came in, played good defense, and scored 5 straight points including a smart drive and layup with 2 seconds on the shotclock when noone else wanted to take initiative. Really like what he's showing recently. A little confused why he didn't get any run at all in the second half (did he even get off the bench?). The Evans and Foster minutes were obviously a disaster and I understand why Jon wanted the starters in, but felt bad for Mason to get iced after sparking the team a little in the first and not doing anything wrong that I saw.
 
Agreed. If Proctor had gotten hurt there at the end it would have been bad karma - with about 1:30 left I asked my son why the starters were still in. Especially against a friend in Capel. Last year's game is water under the bridge.

Nice game. Starters all did well. Cooper is really getting his groove.
Maybe not water under the bridge and a statement? Scheyer might not have the same outward fire as Coach K but maybe he was not quite happy about last year and didn't forget it. I know I didn't. Or maybe he was trying some schemes? Who knows
 
My gut says we’d be undefeated if we played James a lot more than Foster in those early games. Although he did get hurt in one of those.
I agree. Though He was fouled very hard with an illegal but uncalled foul and that's when the game changed IMHO. But in a way, as long as we are #1 seed, maybe being unbeaten for such a young team could have been an unwelcome distraction. Plus losing like that makes the players more competitive IMHO. So maybe a blessing in disguise?
 
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