Duke used a 43-24 rebounding advantage, 50 percent shooting from beyond the arc and solid defense to key an 84-59 win over a struggling Louisville team Wednesday night in Cameron.
The win moves Duke to 13-4 ACC and 22-6 overall and keeps alive a very realistic chance of capturing the ACC regular-season title.
The Cardinals dropped to 3-14 and 8-20.
Back to the game in a minute.
You probably want to know about the injury report.
Kyle Filipowski started and played just under 30 minutes. He turned it over four times but also had nine points, 10 rebounds, six assists, a block and a robust +31 on the plus/minus.
“It’s great playing the game I love,” Filipowski said about getting back on the court, “playing it with these guys. I think we made a statement today, especially with it coming to the end of the season. We have a bright future.”
That’s the good news.
Now the bad news. Caleb Foster was wearing a boot and Jon Scheyer suggested we may not see him for awhile.
“We’re going to be without him for some time. I don’t know what that time is. But we have to adjust, we have to step up.”
But Scheyer later added “when” Foster returns. Not if.
So, that’s good.
The Cardinals led one time, 3-2, after a Tre White trey. But Louisville missed its last 10 3-pointers of the half as Duke methodically built up its lead.
Senior Jeremy Roach provided some separation with a couple of 3-pointers, the first putting Duke up 20-13, the second 23-13, 32 seconds later.
Following a media timeout Jared McCain hit a 3 and Duke’s lead never again dipped below 11.
It was 37-23 at the half.
Which doesn’t mean Duke was pristine or anything. The home team had 10 turnovers in the opening half, was called for nine fouls and missed 5 of 11 from the line, one of those misses the first end of the bonus.
But even given Louisville’s well-documented woes it’s hard to argue with a defense that holds an ACC team to 23 points in a half.
Embattled Louisville coach Kenny Payne said Duke turned his team into a jump-shooting team early.
Roach acknowledged that cleaning up the turnovers was a point of emphasis at halftime.
“It was just unforced turnovers,” Roach said. “It wasn’t a lot they were doing to make us turn it over. We just had to clean it up. We got a little careless in the first half.”
Scheyer said the turnover issue was the first thing he mentioned to his team when they got to the locker room for halftime.
“I didn’t like it at all. Our guys know it. I think overall, this has been as good of a passing team as I’ve coached. I just thought we made some uncharacteristic plays in the first half. We just settled in and starting going inside out.”
Duke only had four turnovers in the second half.
Duke traded baskets for the first eight minutes or so of the second half, the lead fluctuating between 13 and 18 points. Up 56-42 Duke got a 3 from T.J. Power, a layup from Roach and a stick-back by Filipowski and it was 63-42.
With Foster out one might have expected Jaylen Blakes to get a lot of burn.
One would have been wrong. I certainly was. Power got almost 15 minutes, Sean Stewart 11, as Duke played Mitchell at the small forward spot he played last season, to good effect.
Blakes didn’t get in until the final three minutes.
“We looked at some different lineups,” Scheyer said. “We went bigger with T.J. and Sean. Getting them some minutes was a big thing tonight.”
I suspect part of this strategy was to give the freshmen minutes against an over-matched opponent to prepare them for minutes against matched opponents.
The smallest player on the floor produced the biggest roar, when Spencer Hubbard drilled a 3 to make it 84-59.
The triple gave Hubbard a career high and doubled his career scoring total.
Mitchell talked about the rebounding chasm.
“Just playing with effort. Any time we have multiple guys with six, five rebounds, that’s good for us. Anytime you can out-rebound somebody by almost 20 rebounds, it’s going to be hard to lose.”
Scheyer agreed.
“I thought we had great effort,” Scheyer agreed. “It helps when you have off the bench--Sean has four offensive rebounds, Ryan [Young] has three. We’ve learned we have to gang rebound. Winning those extra possessions tonight, those plays added up.”
Stewart had nine points and nine rebounds. Mark Mitchell had seven boards, to go along with 17 points.
Roach led Duke with 19 points. McCain had 14.
Duke also had 23 assists, led by Proctor’s seven and Filipowski’s six.
“Guys sharing the ball, guys hitting shots,” Roach said. “It’s fun when you don’t know who’s scoring. When we share the ball like that, it’s big time.”
Next game in March. Three regular-season games, then the post-season. Scheyer said he was pleased with his team’s response to Saturday’s chaos.
“You get knocked on your ass, you get punched in the face and you have to get back up. That’s how we’re always going to respond.”
Foster's ability to play point at 6'5 and his great three point shooting will be a big loss.
Now comes the quick Saturday- Monday turnaround with Virginia and then At State ( not easy) and then the passion play that is Carolina at Cameron...