Slow starts in each half, poor shooting, doom Duke against Georgia Tech
A lot to work on this week for struggling Devils
Another slow start, another desultory offensive performance, another opponent shooting way above their pay grade, another close loss.
With the added bonus of a potentially serious, perhaps catastrophic injury, this time to Tyrese Proctor.
The final was Georgia Tech 72, Duke 68.
Jon Scheyer started Ryan Young instead of Mark Mitchell.
It did not go well. Young didn’t give Duke much and the Blue Devils fell behind 14-3, after five minutes as statistically one of the poorer shooting teams around buried Duke in a barrage of early 3-pointers.
“There’s a certain attention to detail you have to have right away,” Jon Scheyer said of the slow start. “I could go through the first three 3s and how they got them. And we didn’t do what we talked about doing.”
Proctor went down in the game’s opening 90 seconds, landing awkwardly on a missed layup, so there’s bound to have been some shock going on here.
“We’ll get an x-ray this weekend and we’ll see,” Scheyer said. “But no update.”
Jaylen Blakes gave Duke a defensive lift off the bench and Jeremy Roach and Caleb Foster had success attacking Tech’s defense. But Jared McCain’s shooting slump continued and Blakes is not a scorer. Tech wrapped Kyle Filipowski in a figurative blanket and the first half was a slog, to put it generously.
Duke even took a 23-21 lead on a Roach 3-pointer.
But it was short-lived. Tech answered with a 7-0 run and took a 35-31 lead into the locker room.
Duke started the second half about as well as they started the first. Tech’s 10-3 run in less than three minutes again gave them an 11-point lead, 45-34.
Duke played a pretty good 15 minutes or so, finally getting some stops and forcing some turnovers.
The high point of the second half also was the low point. A Mark Mitchell dunk put Duke up 66-62, with 2:22 left, Duke’s biggest lead of the game. But Mitchell was assessed a technical for taunting.
Two ensuing free throws and a Miles Kelly jumper and it was tied.
Filipowski scored inside to put Duke back on top but that was it. Baye Ndongo [21 points, 9 for 11 from the field] scored twice inside--oh, rim protectors, where have you gone--Duke turned it over twice and Duke’s final possession down by two was simply a mess.
“I got the ball, and I had three guys running at me at one time,” Roach said. “It was kind of difficult getting it out of that corner. But I should’ve made a better play. It’s on us at the end of the day.”
Roach played all 40 minutes and led Duke with 20 points.
“Jeremy kept us in it,” Scheyer said. “He was really good throughout. He’s been in a lot of those games, so he’s not fazed by anything. That’s why at the end, down the stretch, it’s just him and [Filipowski], playing a two-man game. And they made some big-time plays. He did a really good job; he did all he could. The only thing is on the last play, we’ve got to get a shot up.”
Got to get a shot up. Copy that.
Duke ended the game shooting 12 for 20 (60 percent) from the line and 4 for 16 (25 percent) on 3s, not what we expected from a team touted as Duke’s best shooting team in years.
Duke assisted on 11 of 26 made field goals.
“I haven’t liked the way we’ve shared the ball the last two games,” Scheyer said. “We had 11 assists, and we have a team, I believe, that should have close to 20 assists a game. It should come easier for us.”
And Duke couldn’t get stops with the game on the line, as Tech made 20 of 30 two-point attempts.
Scheyer again.
“For me, it was our defense. When we needed key stops, we didn’t get them.”
Way too many woes to untangle right now. It’s early December and Duke has what should be a couple of easy home games coming up, Charlotte and Hofstra.
Should be.
Scheyer and Roach both referenced an important week of practice.
The player.
“We’ve just got to do what we talked about in practice. There’s no carryover. We said we’re not going to give them any 3s in transition, not give them any 3s to Kelly. Give credit to Georgia Tech, they came out with fire. We’ve just got to do better in this week of practice.”
The coach.
“This is a time for us, for our team – we have a week of practice. We have to stick together. We’ve got to get together even closer. As a coaching staff, there are some things we have to look at and probably make some changes. But the biggest thing is really sticking together, being together on offense.”
I'm not encouraged by the game nor by Scheyer's comments.
Scheyer: "That’s why at the end, down the stretch, it’s just him and [Filipowski], playing a two-man game. And they made some big-time plays. He did a really good job; he did all he could. The only thing is on the last play, we’ve got to get a shot up.”
Coach, why is it a 2-man game playing against 5 men? Why did they not get a shot up -- in the last two plays? Why did Roach find himself with 3 guys on him, and no one on our offense was moving aggressively and smart enough to get the ball in a good position?
Why does this team, after 8 games, not pay attention to detail on D? Coach, that's on you!
Scheyer also went on to say that the coaches probably have to make some changes. You think? Coach, you need to imagine and implement an offense with more movement and unpredictability. We don't have great shooters, so we need to use the athletic ability of our young, talented but not super-skilled guards. We need to tell TJ to run around constantly like JJ and then work to set screens for him.
Scheyer also said that the main thing was we need to get together. No, Coach, you need to give your team the plan to use their strengths on offense and the scheme to stop our porous defense. You need to create the standard that NO Duke team comes out flat! Any player comes out flat, sits, period, even if we lost by double digits. And they face a scorching half-time roast. This coming out flat thing is just not acceptable.
With respect, I think that Scheyer needs to find his inner Coach K...or any other great coach.
The slow starts are a problem which must be solved. After falling behind 14-3, Duke battled back to trail by only four points at the half 35-31. Georgia Tech opens 2nd half on a 10-3 run and Duke is again down 11 points at 45-34.
It is early so Coach Scheyer has time to fix the problem.