Duke Torches Pitt 75-53
And serves notice about this team’s impressive potential
On Saturday, Duke struggled at Notre Dame but came away with a rugged win. But on Tuesday, Duke went to Pitt and things clicked on a very high level as Duke blew the Panthers out, 75-53. Pitt was never in this game. Duke led from wire to wire and was up 48-23 at the half.
In that half, the Blue Devils also held Pitt to 8-28 from the floor and just 3-11 for threes. Duke was constantly switching and it forced the Panthers to shoot a good bit further out than Jeff Capel would have probably liked.
And while Mark Mitchell’s two-game hot streak came to an end - he finished with just four points - Kyle Filipowski bounced back from a bad game in South Bend and with a vengeance: he shot 11-12, finishing with 26 points, and grabbed 10 rebounds.
But as impressive as that was, it wasn’t the story of this game. It was two other things. First, it was Duke’s defense, which, for much of the contest, was sensational. And the other thing that was brilliant was the ball movement. Duke made 29 baskets and 19 of them were assisted. But that doesn't fully tell the story because Duke was moving the ball around unbelievably well. In the first half, this led to 60 percent shooting overall and 52.9 percent from behind the line.
Duke cooled off in the second half, hitting just two more threes and finishing the game hitting 51.7 percent overall and 44 percent for threes.
That’s not really disappointing though, particularly since the Blue Devils were up by 31 at one point. There just wasn’t much Pitt could do to stop the onslaught.
Aside from Filipowski’s brilliance, it was a game of impressive plays. Some games things kind of run together. We got that a bit here with a series of passes for open threes in the corner by Pitt’s bench, but there were a lot of plays that will be easy to remember: another left-side drive by Jeremy Roach. Jared McCain following up a Tyrese Proctor miss with a leaping tip-in under the basket. TJ Power hitting a gorgeous three from near the Duke bench in the second half. Sean Stewart blocking a shot by Guillermo Diaz-Graham with ease. Filipowski repeatedly hitting threes and short jumpers in the lane.
It was a tour-de-force by Duke and really it was a high-test version of what we’ve said we see coming with Scheyer’s program: a group of smart, gifted players who can pass and who can really shoot. The first half was ridiculous. Duke was playing at level that most teams dream of.
To be sure, they won’t play at that level every night. Basketball doesn’t work that way. However, they saw their potential at Pitt and they have a good idea of what they’re capable of together.
And keep in mind that while Filipowski had his 26, the only other guy to get into double figures was Jared McCain with 12. As well as Duke shot, Tyrese Proctor was just 1-6, Jeremy Roach 3-9 and Mitchell 1-4. Proctor is still coming off the bench as he recovers from his ankle injury, but he’s functionally a starter. So three starters combined to shoot 5-19 and Duke still goes up 31? It’s kind of amazing when you think about it.
But here’s the thing: even if Pitt had kept up offensively, Duke’s ball movement was tough to match. The Panthers had a few moments of that in the second half that were really great, but from start to finish, Duke’s put them on a wholly different level. And so did the defense.
Pitt finished the game shooting just 32.8 percent overall. They made six more threes in the second half and finished 9-17 but Duke’s defense was too stout. This game was over at halftime.
It won’t happen like that every night obviously but now, as Jim Boeheim noted during the broadcast, Duke has a tremendous number of weapons to throw at an opponent. You might shut down Filipowski, as Notre Dame did, but Mitchell might erupt. You might limit Roach, but McCain is emerging as a superb offensive guard. Proctor and Caleb Foster still need to up their games, but they’re getting there. And then you have Ryan Young, Power, Jaylen Blakes and Sean Stewart coming off the bench and all of them bring special talents to the floor.
Duke is not likely to rip through the rest of the season undefeated and cruise to the national championship without stress and occasional setbacks. That’s just part of this game. But Tuesday night we got a pretty good idea of just how tough this group can be and it looked pretty damn impressive from here.
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- Box Score