Blue Devils Struggle in their First Road Win 67-59 Over Notre Dame; Career High 23 for Mark Mitchell; 18 for Jeremy Roach
It wasn’t hard to read the writing on the wall that Micah Shrewsberry is a good coach and that Notre Dame isn’t as bad as their worst loss. The fact that the Irish, in their 3 prior ACC games, have held their opponents to 65, 54 and 54 points was an indicator that this team, regardless or record plays well on the defensive end. The Irish scoring defense has been impressive and whether you want to blame Duke’s bad shooting or Notre Dame’s defense – the Blue Devils offensively did not perform well. The Blue Devils went on to win the game, their first road win on on the season 67-59, but it was a slog and a rock fight. The Blue Devils did themselves no favors, especially in the first half where they coughed up the ball9 times. The positive is the Irish were only able to score 4 points off of those turnovers. For Duke, the turnovers coupled with only shooting the basketball at a 31% clip kept the Irish within striking distance. The first 13 minutes belonged to the Irish who were able to build a 9 point lead at the 7:06 mark of the first half. The Blue Devils saved their best for the last 7 minutes and used a 14-3 to take the lead heading into the break 29-27.
The second half saw the Blue Devils score the first 5 points of the second half and it looked as if the offensive woes that plagued the first half may be over but alas Notre Dame would continue to punch back at the Blue Devils. Every Duke run was answered and with Kyle Filipowski having one of his worst games of the season scoring only 7 points on 2-12 shooting Duke would need someone to step up. They got it from Mark Mitchell. Mitchell set another career high against the Irish string 23 points on 8-12 shooting, even hitting on 2-2 from beyond the arc. Mitchell did the bulk of his work in the paint and added 14 rebounds to secure his first career double-double. Also stepping up for the Blue Devils was senior guard Jeremy Roach who scored 18 points on 4-9 shooting, grabbing 6 rebounds and dishing a couple of assists. Roach and Mitchell were perfect from the free throw line for a combined 14-14. Roach helped secure the victory hitting 8 of his 9 free throws in the final 4 minutes of the game.
Mitchell led the Blue Devils with 23 followed by Roach’s 18. Mitchell was also the teams leading rebounder at 14 for the game. Filipowski despite having a horrid night from the field still led the Blue Devils with 4 assists.
For the game the Blue Devils shot 36%, 31% from 3 and 81% from the free throw line. Duke was out rebounded by 2 (40-42) and despite having 9 first half turnovers Duke finished with just 11 for the game.
