In the second half, Duke gave a pretty good idea of just how much potential it has
Here’s something you won’t see very often: Duke shot 0-9 for threes in the first half and Kyle Filipowski didn't score at all for the Blue Devils in the opening stanza. Even so, Duke led Syracuse 35-33 at the half. Why? One word: Mark Mitchell. Okay, two, but so what.
In the first half, Mitchell was brilliant and a good thing because the rest of the team was not. Mitchell played with confidence and aggression and didn’t worry about his recent offensive struggles. He didn’t hit a three Tuesday night, but so what? When you play as well as he did, threes are not as big of a deal.
And in the second half, everyone was hitting them. In fact, Duke shot a nearly inverted 8-0 from behind the line in the second half and finished the half hitting hitting 18-24 overall for .750.
So what happened in the first?
It’s hard to understand why but both teams played poorly. Part of it may have just been a holiday hangover. We’re not talking about drinking but rather the traditional start-and-stop rhythm of the early part of college basketball season. It’s a given, everyone gets it, you know exams and Christmas are coming....but it costs the game something.
Duke shot out to a 7-1 lead before the Orange got going and caught up and the rest of the first half, jerky-jerky though it was, was close. Remember what we said after the Queens game about Adrian Autry viewing the film and seeing how the Royals got behind or through Duke’s defense fairly often?
Well Malik Brown did it too, which we’ll discuss in a minute.
We were curious about how Autry was using 7-4 Naheem McLeod. He’s still not much of an asset but he is 7-4 and that means he’s a pain inside. Leonard Hamilton used him like he uses all of his big stiffs, just to gum up the inside when his athletes chase people in there, and Syracuse did something similar, just letting him roam inside on defense. We thought he might actually guard Filipowski, but really, he was a one-man zone.
And as we’ve seen so often, he played limited minutes, just seven, and only grabbed two rebounds and blocked one shot. And he had three fouls in those seven minutes.
Brown ended up playing 33 minutes and he shot 11-16 including several all-too-easy dunks inside, shooting 11-16 with the vast majority of those shots fairly close to the basket.
In the second half, he had some easy attempts because Filipowski had picked up a couple of early fouls in the first and was careful not to draw a third after sitting for much of the first.
Duke did a solid job on Syracuse’s backcourt, limiting Judah Mintz to 5-14 and JJ Starling to just 4-9. They did combine for 17 points but they really had to work for them.
Back to Duke: Jared McCain ended up shooting 4-6 from three point range and 6-13 overall for 18 points. Jeremy Roach shot 7-11, including 2-2 from behind the line for 17.
Tyrese Proctor is still coming off the bench following his ankle injury and subsequent return, but he might not much longer: Proctor shot 5-7 including some daring drives and hit 2-4 for threes for a total of 14 points. He had four assists and two turnovers as well.
Jaylen Blakes played 15 minutes and he seems to be evolving a role where he basically just injects chaos off the bench. He’s physically strong and he defends like a lunatic. At times he seems like he’s everywhere. He made steals, forced guys to pick up their dribble at inopportune times and even blocked a shot.
There are guys on this team with bigger roles but we’re not sure anyone has a role that’s more fun or that they’re more suited to. He’s an absolute blast to watch. It’s a bit like Muggsy Bogues if he were a foot taller because Bogues used to drive people nuts too.
Ryan Young and Sean Stewart both got into foul trouble in limited minutes. Young picked up three in four minutes and Stewart got two in four minutes. Given Filpowski’s early foul trouble, that could have been disastrous, but it wasn’t, largely thanks to Mitchell's brilliant performance.
TJ Power also got in but didn’t score though he did grab three boards in eight minutes and had a superb block.
It’s a bit too easy to say this was a game of two halves, but of course it was. Part of the reason why Duke was ragged in the first half was because Syracuse is an athletic and physical team and they defend hard. We’re not used to thinking of Syracuse as hard-nosed. They’re more like a wall of long-armed defenders in Jim Boeheim’s 2-3 zone.
Well this team is very hard-nosed and they’re going to leave a mark and we say that as a compliment not a complaint. SU is physical.
They also don’t shoot all that well and they’re young, with most of the rotation players being sophomores. But you can learn to shoot better and young players always become older ones. Give this team some time to smooth the rough edges and the Orange could make some noise by the end of the season. Plus they have a toughness and a bit of attitude. Again, that’s not said as an insult. We didn’t dislike this team. We liked the way they played and the heart they showed.
Boeheim’s Syracuse is done and not a moment too soon. It’s going to take some hard work and patience, but this one has the potential to do some very cool things.
Notes - if you haven’t seen Power’s block, look for it...that was a really great play...Duke’s ballhawking was impressive, and not just Blakes, who had three...only three players failed to get at least one steal - Mitchell, Power and Young...this team has the potential to be one of the best passing teams in recent memory...there were spectacular passes by Proctor and Filipowski and some very good ones by Young and others...at one point in the second half when Duke went on a satisfying run, three or four Blue Devils did a spontaneous jump together for joy...that, along with Mitchell’s beautiful first half, augur well for the future. ..
