First true road win? Check
Above .500 in ACC play check?
A drama-free Saturday?
Well, as the poet said, two out of three ain’t bad.
I also would have accepted “there’s no such thing as a bad ACC road win.”
Duke trailed Notre Dame by as much as nine points in the opening half before sort of seizing control in the second, holding off several spirited Irish comebacks for a 67-59 win.
The victory puts Duke at 2-1 in the ACC, 11-3 overall.
The Blue Devils got almost all of their offense from Mark Mitchell (23 points, 14 rebounds, 2 of 2 from beyond the arc) and Jeremy Roach (18 points, 9 for 9 from the line, also 6 rebounds and 4 steals)). But Kyle Filipowski and Jared McCain overcame horrid starts to provide some big buckets in crunch time.
While another game flashed across my TV screen a turnover prone Duke team fell behind Notre Dame 10-4 and 15-7, then didn’t get any better, 17-10, then 24-15, as Duke’s offense got stuck on 15 points for over five minutes.
Scheyer gave Notre Dame’s defense plenty of credit.
“They made it hard for, they’re physical, they’re tough.”
Roach agreed.
“They came in prepared. They made it tough for us all night. Gave us some different looks. Made it tough for me to get in my rhythm.”
Roach started the comeback with a huge 3-pointer for 24-18, then a steal and transition assist to Ryan Young for 24-22. McCain tied it at 27-27 with a 3-point play and Duke took a 29-27 lead into intermission on two Mitchell foul shots.
Scheyer cited that run that closed out the first half.
“I thought we showed amazing toughness. The way we closed the first half, I think it was 14-3 [it was], that’s huge if you can end a half when you don’t play your best.”
The key to that run?
“We got stops. We couldn’t string together stops consistently enough to get separation. But it’s very different if you go into the half and it’s a double-digit lead for them or if it’s a lead for us. I think it was right around eight minutes, the TV timeout, all we talked about was winning those four minutes. Not to get ahead of ourselves, not to look behind us, just win those four minutes.
“We won them, and then I asked them to win another four and then to take it possession by possession. You could tell very early it was going to be that kind of game. It was going to be a possession by possession game. The stops are really what got us that lead.”
The second half saw Duke threaten to pull away from the home team time and time again only to drop the ball. Mitchell got a monster dunk and foul shot off an offensive rebound, the kind of play Mike Krzyzewski would have called a man’s play.
Mitchell scored Duke’s first 14 points of the second half. His 3-pointer put Duke up 39-33, then another dunk and it was 41-33 and the Irish were reeling and not in a good way.
“I don’t know if I did anything different,” Mitchell said. “I took what the defense gave me and when I’m playing hard, sometimes good things happen.”
Roach said it was more than that.
“Mark is just a guy that’s going to find it. He’s going to find his openings. He was getting offensive rebounds, he was hitting 3s. He just is doing a little bit of everything. He’s such a unique scorer. He doesn’t need any plays run for him. He’s just getting his stuff through the offense.”
But Duke couldn’t deliver the knock-out blow, another long scoring-drought, this one over three minutes and Notre Dame closed to 41-39.
McCain and Filipowski knocked down 3s and it was 49-41, then it was 49-47 then another McCain triple and it was 52-47.
Duke was slogging through mud but eventually got where they needed to go.
Roach was the closer. In the final 35 seconds he made all six of his foul shots, had a steal, a block and a rebound.
Glass half-full or half-empty? Clearly this wasn’t Duke’s best effort. But they won. But Notre Dame isn’t great. But they did beat Virginia by 22. And Duke won. Tougher tasks await. But Duke won.
Won despite shooting 35.6 percent from the field, won despite being out-rebounded 42-40, won despite a scoreless game from Proctor, five points from the bench.
But Duke went 17 for 21 (81 percent) from the line, had nine steals and held down the turnovers (11) after a dismal start in that area.
And maybe people will stop piling on Mark Mitchell.
“The job that Mark Mitchell did--let me just tell you how proud I am of him.” Scheyer said. “He’s been working his butt off. He’s been really decisive, playing more confidently. I love the two 3s. I love the shooting. But what I love the most is the 14 rebounds. I think that shows how much he competed and he really came through for us in a big way.”
Did I mention that Duke won an ACC road game? Not pretty. But they don’t give out style points. Roach called it s “big-time win” and I’m inclined to agree.
Sometimes you have to win ugly and this game was one of those times. Team showed they’re tough. It takes toughness to win conference road games.
Great as always, Jim. Any comment on the Roach offensive foul phantom leg kick? That 3 and 1 could have changed the first half momentum considerably. Just a head-scratcher.