Duke avoided the upset bug Friday night, pulling away from a game but over-matched Vermont team in a 64-47 win.
Mark Mitchell put on a dunking clinic early, sparking an 8-0 run that gave Duke a 19-12 lead.
Duke never trailed again.
Doesn’t mean it was easy. Vermont kept enough game pressure on Duke that the outcome wasn’t really sealed until well into the second half.
Hopefully, having to execute against a disciplined, experienced team will pay dividends Sunday and down the road.
A Mitchell dunk gave Duke a double-digit lead at 26-16. A Jaylen Blakes steal and layup made it 28-18.
Perhaps Duke was getting ready to pull away.
Perhaps not. Duke went over four minutes without a field goal and Vermont closed to 29-27.
Jared McCain ended the drought with a 3-pointer and Duke extended the lead back to seven at 34-27.
But as has become a disturbing trend lately, Duke gave up a last-second basket going into the locker room and it was 34-29.
Although to be fair, Aaron Deloney’s scoop shot was the second high-degree-of-difficulty shot made by the Catamounts in the final moments of the half.
A three-point play by Shamir Bogues cut Duke’s lead to 36-34. But McCain extended the lead to five with a 3-pointer and it never got that close again.
Duke began to get some separation around the mid-point of the second half, building up an 11-point lead. But Vermont had one more run in them, a 3-pointer by Bogues making it 50-44 and forcing Scheyer to call a timeout with 7:27 left.
Whatever Scheyer told his team, it worked. Tyrese Proctor hit a 3, Roach got a 3-point play and Duke closed it out.
Mitchell cited Duke’s defense down the stretch.
“We just tried not to panic, went back to the huddle and fixed some things in our communication and tried to lock in and dig down deep and get stops. That's what we talked about the last week when we get in these tight moments to go deeper, get stops and we did that.”
Duke had four players in double figures and Kyle Filipowski wasn’t one of them. Not even close. He missed his only field-goal attempt and made three foul shots. But he had 12 rebounds, four assists, three blocks and two steals.
Vermont doubled him every time he touched the ball, sometimes tripled him, sometimes it seemed like half the population of Vermont was guarding him.
McCain said forget the low-scoring total.
“I have to give a huge shout to Flip. He got me these open shots. So even though it doesn't show on the stat sheet, even if I miss some of those shots, he won us a lot of those plays, those possession. I got a lot of love for Flip when he finds me outside the post.”
Scheyer added that Duke’s sophomore All-American didn’t care for individual stats.
Mitchell and McCain led Duke with 15 points. Roach closed strong and finished with 14 points. Proctor added 13. Duke had a 38-26 advantage on the boards and turned it over only nine times, while holding Vermont to 18 second-half points.
Bogues led everyone with 18 points.
Some areas of concern. Duke only got four points off the bench. Did Filipowski do a great job of not forcing plays? Or should he have been more assertive? Or does Duke need to figure out better ways to get him the ball in scoring position?
All of the above?
But in the NCAAs a win is a win is a win. Ask John Calipari. Or Bruce Pearl. Or national coach of the year Lamont Paris.
Mitchell said the win will help Duke.
“Any time you can get a nitty-gritty win like that, it helps your team, helps your camaraderie and helps your togetherness. I think we are going to use that going forward the rest of the weekend to help us.”
Scheyer agreed.
“They are tough, man. They spread you. They drive you. They post you. Just thought it was a terrific job by these guys and showing a lot of toughness, a lot of heart and really proud of this win.”
James Madison next, anointed a Cinderella before they ever played a game and they certainly didn’t blink against Big Ten’s Wisconsin.
Should be a good one.
A solid win over an experienced team. We need to play better tomorrow against the Dukes. Survive and advance!
32 teams left, every team is a good team.
James Madison will throw the house, the garage and the backyard at Duke on Sunday.
Hope we keep our composure and win.