Article Jackets Look for First Win in Cameron Since '04

Biggest thing coach could have done to keep it close was call a time out to stop a 14-0 run at around 14 minutes to go in the 2nd half, when we went from up 8 to down 6. I thought that was a coaching fail. Frustrating.

 

Zion is one of the highest paid players in the country for a reason. Not much margin for error when you play high caliber guys like that.

 

We played a great game.

We shot the same fg% as them, had better 3 point%, was within 3 rebs of them, and had 10 Orebs to their 11. Turned it over too much but many were dead ball turnovers so not as big a deal.

The difference in this game was 19-6 in the most predictable stat when playing at duke.

 

well played first half. definitely an encouraging sign for the rest of the season with a little improvement on O. I won't be picking Duke in my final four this year.

 

Didn't get to watch the game thanks to YoutubeTV and ESPN app blackout in ATL. Listened to the last 15 minutes on radio. Will try to find a replay to watch if I can bear it. Stat line didn't look good for any of our guys, except AD was decent, but his shots weren't falling in the 2nd half

10 turnovers from our 2 point guards has got to get cleaned up for us to have any chance against good teams.

4 points and 2 rebounds from Banks, I don't know what to say...

2/6 vs 16/19 from the free throw line is a recipe for disaster.

I don't care how good they are, if you hold them to 2/21 from 3, you should have a pretty good chance to win... frustrating.

 

Another team held to their season low in points scored. Fun game though for an hour and 15 or so and got the adrenaline pumping.

 

Yea, think about it - they shot 9% from 3PT and only had 2 guys on the entire team make more than 3 baskets. And they still won by 13.

 

If you were in atl, could've watched it on Peachtree tv. Tech played very well today. Not sure what you are bitc#ing about.

 

The untimely turnovers in the second half killed us. Duke got out and ran - built momentum and the game was over.

Duke is bigger, stronger and longer than we are. A subtle but huge advantage for them today was the refs allowed them to really play the body hard all game. Banks and especially AD were bumped off their spot all game - even with the ball - and on the perimeter they let Duke defenders body Jose and Devoe a lot more than they should have. Duke used to get away with the hand check - now they establish their ability to body you with the same effect.

Our defense was generally really good - we sold out on the perimeter and it showed. The good was Duke didn't shoot well from 3. That was in big part due to our D and due to the fact we didn't let them get out and run - especially in the first half. The downside was Duke was able to exploit us inside. Bolden and Zion were really good at pinning Banks in particular and AD some really deep on the block where all they could do was foul. They also got used to the zone and started running really good stuff to get the ball in deep on cuts to the rim. Would have been great to switch to man for a short while just for a different look but we would have gotten killed with mismatches all over the court.

On offense I thought we played really smart except for that one stretch in the second half where we started turning the ball over. Kudos to CJP who ran a different set with the high screen by AD primarily just to get a switch and allow him to go to work on Reddish (usually). That was a neat wrinkle. The key thing that has to happen for us to compete at this level is for both Jose and especially Devoe to get stronger so they cannot be bodies like they were today. They have to be able to get where they want regardless of a good physical defender on them. Then throw in confidence so we get more shooting and an improved ability to kick out when we do get the ball inside - either on a drive or to the post.

Overall though I really liked what I saw. I'll avoid moral victories but I do see it as a step in the right direction. Now we need to see consistency going forward which for a team as young as this is a big ask.

 

I'm bitc#ing about losing going away by 13 and basically being totally out of the game for the last 12 minutes despite playing pretty well like you said. We matched them in FG% and rebounding. They shot 9% from 3 PT, and we still lost handily. It's frustrating like I said.

 

Yep, lost by 13, outscored by 14 at the free throw line. Brutal.

 

Duke +14 on free throws. Hard to beat that anytime, anywhere.

 

The free throw thing isn't such a big deal. If you don't play Duke's bigs physical, they are just going to get easy, uncontested dunks and layups. See: last 10 minutes when AD and Banks had 4 fouls. My point is we still would have lost this game by double digits even if the free throw differential was more even.

 

I thought we played pretty well, but having guys play nearly 40 minutes at the pace we were playing probably contributed to the end of the game break-down. We weren't getting up for D rebounds as well and lost focus in passing, shooting and defending, imo.

I don't know what's up with Alston. He can't get the second half of next year somewhere anymore can he? We heard "personal reasons" a lot last year. It would've been nice to have some minutes from him or for Shembari to be more than a liability.

I agree with what others have said about it seeming that our guys were getting bodied off-balance all over the place, but I don't know the "rule" or "practice" for how that's usually called.

 

Survivability

 

Did anybody else see the girl shaking her Grayson Allen doll?

 

For the season Duke has made 286 free throws. Their opponents have taken 300 free throws so losing the battle at the free throw line is pretty much guaranteed. The called a couple of ticky tack fouls and Gueye's 3rd foul should have gone against Cole IMO. Finally keeping an opponent from completely dominating the offensive glass was nice to finally see.

 

Yeah and like pretty every fan they showed she was annoying.

 

We looked tired in the second half and our zone was a little slower to rotate. Strategy seems to get the ball inside to our bigs. Not sure why we aren't able to get to the line and draw fouls when we do. They doubled Banks when he got it down low. We had way too many TO's and didn't get offensive rebounds in the second half like first half. The crowd was waiting to explode all game but other than a spurt mid 2nd half we kept them pretty quiet. Banks played with them when he fouled out and didn't sit down until they were in the motion of taking the foul shot. When Geuye fouled out they really let gave him an extra loud "see ya!". Pretty funny.

 

Hate to lose any game, but you have to feel good about Tech's game today. Our guards were gassed at the end (both played 40 min each I believe). They gave their all. Devoe is starting to turn into a very good player. I knew early on that our bigs would be in foul trouble. Pastner did a good job of rotating them and getting the most out of their minutes while they were on the floor. A tip of the hat to Gueye. Overall CJP did a good job of coaching in a very hostile environment, against the best paid team in the country.