Well, that was worth your time.
Tyrese Proctor's two foul shots send Duke to a 72-71 win over Clemson.
If you’ve ever played basketball or even dreamed of playing basketball, you’ve dreamed of being where Tyrese Proctor was Saturday evening in Cameron. Down by a point, a second left, at the foul line, with the game on your shoulders.
Nothing but net. Proctor’s two foul shots gave Duke a pulsating 72-71 win, putting Duke at 6-2 in the ACC, 15-4 overall.
The loss dropped the Tigers to 3-5 and 13-6.
The second half was about as back-and-forth as basketball gets. Try eight lead changes and eight ties just in the second half. Physical, contentious at times, both teams delivering haymakers, absorbing them and getting back up again.
Duke made--as the coaches say--one more play.
Well, maybe not Brad Brownell, the veteran Clemson coach who said the game “was taken from us.”
Jon Scheyer responded that there were missed calls on both ends and declined to get into a tit-for-tat.
Duke certainly gave Clemson chances. Duke was outrebounded 42-33 and outscored 15-0 on second-chance points. Duke missed 12 of its 33 foul shots and only had eight assists. Kyle Filipowski fouled out in 24 minutes, 9 points, 4 rebounds, 5 for 11 from the line.
But he also had four blocks and a huge 3-point play down the stretch.
Brownell said getting Filipowski in foul trouble was “part of our plan.” Having a savvy post vet like P.J. Hall helps.
Jeremy Roach started for Duke and played 25 minutes. Scheyer said Roach hasn’t practiced this week. Roach had 5 points.
Still, Duke had some first-half chances to blow it open.
After falling behind 10-5 and 16-12 Duke went on a 14-2 run to take a 29-20 lead. Duke had the ball and that nine-point lead four times without scoring, Filipowski missing two freebies and being called for basket interference in the middle.
Caleb Foster gave Duke a 32-20 lead with his only 3-pointer of the night. But Duke went the final 3:03 of the half without scoring and led 32-26 at intermission.
Duke extended the lead to 36-26 early in the second half before hitting the doldrums.
Scheyer said he would need to look at the film to see what went wrong during that stretch.
I suspect defensive rebounding and foul shooting will stick out.
Proctor did a great job on Clemson sharpshooter Joseph Girard, holding him scoreless in the first half.
But Girard hit two triples off offensive rebounds and subsequent kick-outs, the first making it 39-35 Duke, the second 52-49, two lost opportunities by Duke or two opportunistic plays by Clemson, depending on how your bread is buttered.
Then Clemson started rubbing Proctor off with screens and Girard successfully took it to the glass twice.
Clemson took its first second-half lead at 57-56 on a P.J. Hall 3-pointer with 7:32 left.
Proctor put Duke back up with a 3-pointer of his own.
But Clemson came very, very close to seizing control, outscoring Duke 12-6.
When Filipowski missed two foul shots with 2:06 left, it looked pretty bleak for Duke.
Enter McCain. He actually got a steal after Filipowski’s second miss but Filipowski missed inside.
Under two minutes. But McCain jumped the route on an Ian Schieffelin pass and converted at the other end.
“I knew I could cheat a little bit off the screen,” he said, “so I went ahead and cheated on the passing lane and I was able to get in and got really excited. I ran as fast as I could. Definitely, probably the fastest I’ve ever ran and I capitalized on it.”
“He just has a belief his team is going to win,” Scheyer added. “It’s his spirit in just finding a way to win. He knew we had to make a play. It wasn’t necessarily going to be a play run for him or a jump shot. He just had to make it.”
McCain got his third steal in less than a minute but missed the bomb that would have given Duke the lead.
Then it was Mark Mitchell’s turn, a steal with Duke down two and less than a minute left.
“It was a good defensive play by Mitchell,” Brownell conceded. “We’re trying to feed the ball to P.J. in the middle of the lane and the catch was extended a little bit. But Mitchell made a good play. A good athlete making a good defensive play.”
Duke ball, shot-clock off. Go for 3? Take it inside?
How about both?
Filipowski drove inside, scored, drew the foul and converted.
“Flip didn’t have his best stuff tonight,” Scheyer said. “But he made the biggest play of the game probably.”
70-69 Duke, 15 second left.
Clemson went to Hall and it paid off. He fouled out Filipowski and knocked down both foul shots; He’s an 80 percent foul shooter on the season but made all five of his charity shots against Duke.
Duke was out of timeouts but Brownell called one for Clemson. A defensible decision. Duke gets to set up its offense but Clemson gets to set up its defense.
“We practice our end-of-game situations often,” Scheyer said. “With seven seconds we have a play that we go to at that time. For Tyrese, you just want to attack the paint and you’re surrounded with shooting so if they collapse, you’ve got kicks. I thought he did a great job of playing through resistance.”
“We run it all the time,” Proctor added. “Just come off and make a play.”
Proctor drew the foul with a second left.
“That’s a tough moment to be in,” Scheyer said. “You dream of it. He was as cool as he could be. Both of them barely touched the rim.”
Scheyer said that he told Proctor “you got it” and he responded “I got you coach.”
“For sure, you’re a little kid in the driveway,” Proctor said. “Tonight was just a free throw and I made them in the end.
Clemson’s length-of-the-court pass was deflected and the game ended.
McCain finished with 21 points, 16 after intermission. Proctor had 18, Mitchell 13.
Hall and Girard led Clemson with 19 and 13 respectively.
“A big-time game,” Scheyer said, noting the missed foul shots, while praising Clemson’s toughness and experience. “I’m proud of our guys, their will and competitive spirit. Finding a way to win, sometimes that’s what it’s all about.”
Well, it was definitely worth my time, although my heart and mind have issues. For me, it was not a pretty and satisfying game to watch. Too many missed bunnies, FTs and rebounds.
Scheyer said that sometimes you just have to find a way to win. That's sincere coach talk, okay. But having 7.4 seconds left to drive the length of the court and even it up? With refs who have not been giving us the benefit of the doubt, so to speak?
What about finding a way to win a little easier, such as putting Mark Mitchell on PJ Hall? Flip was clearly out of sorts, had 4 fouls, and is not a quick, agile D wizard. Mitchell is much tougher.
Scheyer said that he would have to look at the film to see why Duke was doing so badly in the 2nd half. This is concerning. The missed rebounds are real-time symptoms, with causes. I know that Clemson had several strong bigs. But we don't have enough bigs, with Flip, Mitchell, Ryan, Stewart, Power to contend? Where is their development?
With respect to FTs, Filipowski missed 6. He had a pretty bad game. He seems to toggle between being dialed in and being very much not. Seems mental. I presume we have a sports psychologist who could help him play mindfully most of the time. I admire and appreciate how much effort he gives all the time.
Looking ahead to VT and the Heels, I confess that I need to find hope and solace in my spiritual resources.
Go Duke!
The quick turnaround to playing at Virginia Tech Monday night will be a challenge.