Well, Duke has finally mastered that Saturday/Monday twin-bill, just in time to run out of Saturday/Monday twin-bills.
Unless they’re playing one in April. But let’s not go there. Way too early for that.
Still, Duke’s 79-62 win over visiting Louisville was a solid example of taking care of business.
“We’ve been in this situation two other times where we play Saturday-Monday,” Jon Scheyer noted, “so to come out here and to get the win was really important.”
There was a lot more for Duke to lose than to gain Monday night in Cameron. Beating a four-win team isn’t going to the move any NET or RPI or any other kind of needle. But a loss could have been catastrophic.
But here’s the thing. Recently Louisville has been playing more like an NCAA Tournament team than perhaps the worst Power-Six team in the country. Their three most recent games coming into Durham were an eight-point loss to Miami, a three-point loss to Virginia and a 10-point win over Clemson.
“Obviously, they’re playing their best basketball right now,” Jeremy Roach said. “They had a close one with UVa, obviously beat Clemson, so we knew what we were in for. We knew they were playing with house money and they were going to be confident.”
Something was clicking for the Cardinals and that something was 6-3 junior El Ellis, who totaled 82 points in those three games.
Yikes.
And that describes Ellis’ start against Duke. The Durham native--he prepped in Winston-Salem--had a layup and two 3-pointers in the first five minutes to help key Louisville to a 13-7 start.
A few minutes later it was 18-9. Here’s what Louisville coach Kenny Payne said happened next.
“I thought we started out pretty good. Then we put them on their heels and then they hit us back, we wilted. We wilted and never got back.”
Duke seized control with an 18-2 run, or as they say on ESPN “a patented Duke run.”
Duke’s comeback wasn’t fueled by Kyle Filipowski or Roach, their two leading scorers. Dereck Lively II scored seven of Duke’s first 11 points. Mark Mitchell gave Duke its first lead of the game at 19-18 with a pair of foul shots and finished dunks in transition to put Duke up 31-24 and 33-24. Jake Grandison hit two 3-pointers almost as soon as he came off the bench and Ryan Young gave Duke some toughness inside.
“We stayed poised,” Filipowski said. “We’ve been in situations where we’ve gone down double digits early in the game and haven’t responded so well, but I think we did a better job of that tonight. We fixed some of the mistakes we were making at the beginning of the game with Ellis and just getting the rebounds.”
Scheyer praised his bench.
“I thought it was one of Dariq [Whitehead’s] best games actually. I know he didn’t shoot the way he has been [five points] , but he didn’t let it impact his game. He made some really nice passes; I thought his defense was really good. Our bench, Jacob Grandison came in and hit three big threes. Ryan Young – [we were plus-24] when he was in the game.”
Roach hit a short jumper right before the half and Duke went into the locker room up 42-33.
Give Louisville credit. Payne’s comments notwithstanding they didn’t wilt in the second half. They fell behind 51-37, closed to 51-41, fell behind 59-42 and got back to 10 points five times but never any closer before falling to the inevitable.
All five Duke starters scored in double figures. Roach heated up in the second half and led Duke with 14 points. Mitchell and Filipowski had 13 each, Proctor 12 and Lively 10. Grandison’s three triples gave him nine points. Filipowski had seven rebounds as Duke won the battle of the boards 33-28. Perhaps best of all Duke had 19 assists--Roach with six--against only six turnovers.
Ellis ended with 21 points but had four of Louisville’s 12 turnovers.
So, Duke is 20-8 overall, 11-6 in the ACC, a winning record in the ACC guaranteed, still undefeated at Cameron and some time to tinker with what looks like a really dangerous team."
“We’re trending in the right direction and we’ll continue to learn and grow,” Scheyer summed up.
Consecutive wins that look the way should, so to speak, against flawed teams/programs feels like progress after the strugglefest against Wake.
About the only thing that could have even partially redeemed Louisville's cataclysmic season was a win in Cameron, and kudos to Scheyer for having them ready and coaching through the roughs spots more effectively than he did early on.
Here's hoping the high water mark for this season is still ahead of us!