Duke used a dominant defense and rebounding to defeat Iowa 74-62 Tuesday night in Madison Square Garden and the Jimmy V Classic. The win moves Duke to 9-2 on the season and 40-18 all-time at the Garden.
Going into the game Iowa’s star forward Kris Murray was the talk of the town, averaging over 20 points and 10 rebounds per game. And when he scored twice inside `at the midpoint of the first half to make it 17-15 Duke, it looked like he would be a problem for the Blue Devils.
But after that Murray accounted for only four points, largely due to the defensive efforts of Mark Mitchell, with a little help from his friends.
“I think we just had a game-plan to come in and try to stop him,” Mitchell said. “We knew he’s a talented player, I tried to keep him off the glass as much as we could, I knew he averages a lot of offensive rebounds. We just tried to defend him as a team, not let him get any easy looks and just pressure him all night and make it hard for him.”
Murray had only three of his seven rebounds on Iowa’s offensive boards. In fact Iowa grabbed only nine offensive rebounds, while Duke grabbed 34 defensive rebounds. And Iowa came into the game thriving in that area.
Duke out rebounded Iowa 45-35 overall.
So, a big point of emphasis executed to perfection for Duke. Kyle Filipowski had a lot to do with that. The 7-0 freshman grabbed six of his 10 rebounds on the defensive boards. He also scored 12 points, giving him six double-doubles on the young season.
But a huge shout-out to Ryan Young, who came off the bench to grab nine defensive rebounds (11 total).
Filipowski and Mitchell (17 points, a season best) contributed on the offensive side but that was Jeremy Roach’s domain. Roach hasn’t always hunted his shot this season, preferring to jump start his young teammates. But he was in predator mode Tuesday night and ended with a career-high 22 points, including 3 of 6 from beyond the arc, with 3 assists thrown in for good measure.
Duke got some separation in the final eight minutes of the opening half. Tyrese Proctor (8 points, 3 assists) hit a 3 to put Duke up 22-18. Filipowski made it 24-20 then Roach hit a bomb and it was 27-20. An aggressive Mitchell scored four points and it was 31-22, then Roach hit another 3 and it was 36-24.
Scheyer said getting Mitchell to be more assertive on offense was a key “and he did.’
And how about Roach.
“I probably knew when I was in rhythm when I hit my first three,” Roach said. “I mean, when you see your first couple of shots go in, you know you’re kind of in a rhythm. Had the floater to begin the game and then the three, so I kind of knew I was going.”
“Jeremy was really in control of our team from beginning to end,” Scheyer added “Scoring, play-making, leading.”
Filip Rebraca hit a layup just before the buzzer for Iowa and Duke led 37-31 at intermission.
Iowa hung around in the second half but never got closer than six. Filipowski hit a 3 to make it 44-35. Roach scored to make it 56-41, with just over 12 minutes remaining and added two short shots to make it 67-50, with 4:31 left.
Iowa made a desperate late push to make it 68-60 but Duke never really lost control. Roach hit a pair of freebies, Dariq Whitehead assisted Mitchell for a dunk and the teams played it out to its final conclusion.
“We’ve been through a really tough stretch the last couple of weeks,” Scheyer summed up “and I’m proud of our guys, just for how they’ve pushed through and beat a really good Iowa team.”