“Nobody was happy about this. The game should have been over at the half.”
That’s Jeremy Roach’s candid assessment of Duke’s 80-62 win over Southern Indiana Friday night.
I don’t think you’ll find anyone who would disagree with that assessment.
This wasn’t so much a game of Xs and Os, as attitude adjustment, a paradigm shift if you will. After leading 3-0 and 5-3 Duke trailed for the final 17:28 of the opening half to a mid-major that came into Cameron 1-5.
The Screaming Eagles had made just under 30 percent of their 3-pointers on the season entering the game but hit 7 of 14 in the opening half, more than a few of them with a high degree of difficulty.
Duke was 1 for 8 from beyond the arc.
But Jon Scheyer was more concerned with the layups his team allowed.
“For me it was just our defense. We were giving up layups like crazy.”
The visitors led by 10 at 15-5, 20-10, 22-12, 24-14 and 32-22.
Roach said Duke was “coasting,” Kyle Filipowski said Duke was “slacking off. No excuse for it.”
The word “energy,” as in lack of, was used a lot.
Scheyer credited a lineup with reserves Ryan Young, Caleb Foster and Jaylen Blakes with instilling an energy and toughness missing early, pressing and disrupting the Eagles’ offense.
“They picked up our energy, they picked up the fight on defense.”
Duke closed to 35-31 at the half.
USI coach Stan Gouard credited Duke’s 2-2-1 full-court press with turning the game around.
Duke scored the first 11 points of the second half, a pair of 3-pointers by Jared McCain keying the surge. But Duke also forced two 10-second violations in the first 6:34 of the second half, along with an over-and-back.
Roach said the goal of the press was to “slow the game down, take some time off the clock.”
“It definitely made them uncomfortable,” Kyle Filipowski added.
“We needed a jolt,” Scheyer said of the press. “We needed some energy. We weren’t anticipating using it. It wouldn’t work if you didn’t pressure the ball and play with energy.”
The two 10-second calls?
”It speaks to who we can be when we’re right.”
But Scheyer added that he thought his team started gambling out of the press too much in the second half.
After that 11-0 run to open the second half, the lead never dropped below five points. But Duke never really put away the visitors either, not until the end anyway. Duke led by only 11 points (73-62), with 2:27 left.
USI did regress to the mean after intermission--2 for 7 on 3s--and some of Duke’s final individual stat lines looked pretty good. Roach had 18 points, Filipowski had 21 points and 14 rebounds, Tyrese Proctor 11 points and seven assists.
But Scheyer said what Duke got from Roach and Filipowski in the final 20 minutes, it needs for 40 minutes.
No disagreement from Roach.
“After the first half I had I had to get ti going. As a leader I’ve got to be way better. You can’t turn it on and off.”
I asked Filipowski what changed at the half.
“Our energy, for sure. Holding ourselves accountable. I don’t think we did that in the first half. There’s no reason we should have played the way we did in the first half.”
“It’s not just about winning, it’s about playing to the best of our ability,” Scheyer summed up, making it clear that Duke may have done the first but definitely not the second.
Tryptophan hangover!