Collectively the Duke fansphere was hoping for a just a couple of things going into Friday’s game against Southern Indiana: a strong start and for no one to get hurt. Well, no one got hurt except for perhaps some pride. Unfortunately, the Blue Devils put forth one of their worst halves of basketball in a very long time against a team that only recently became a Division 1 team. The Blue Devils went down early 8-5 to the Screaming Eagles and that was as close as they came to a lead in the first half. The Blue Devils, prone to bad starts this season, seemed to approach the game with a distinct lack of energy, enthusiasm and well, oomph. Conversely, the Screaming Eagles hit the ground running, playing like a hungry team and honestly the more confident team. The Eagles scrapped, clawed and fought their way to a 4-point halftime lead against the Blue Devils by shooting 50% from beyond the arc and drawing even on the boards with the much bigger Blue Devils. The Blue Devils shot a paltry 12.5% from beyond the arc and just 60% from the free throw line in that first half and were down as many as 10 points. In his post game presser labeled the first half performance “unacceptable“, especially on the defensive end.
The Blue Devils did respond in the second half, starting the half on an 11-0 run and outscoring Southern Indiana 49-27. Despite having a poor performance in the fist half, Kyle Filipowski’s 21 points and 14 rebounds were good for the tops in both categories for the Blue Devils. The Blue Devils ratcheted up their defensive pressure in the second half causing several turnovers allowing them easy looks in transition and a significant reversal of fortunes from their first half debacle. Duke scoresd 16 points off of Southern Indiana turnovers and 15 off of second chance points and were generally much more spirited and lively in the second half on their way to a 5th win this season.
In addition to Filipowski’s 21 points the Blue Devils also got double-figure efforts from senior captain Jeremy Roach who scored 18 points. Tyrese Proctor added 11 points and dishing 7 assists and freshman Jared McCain added 10 points for Duke as well.
The Blue Devils while winning the rebounding battle were only able to muster a 5 rebound advantage for the game, only getting 7 combined rebounds from the guard spot. In their last outing against La Salle the Blue Devils managed to get 17 guard rebounds. The Blue Devils also shot the ball poorly from both the 3-point line (27.8%) and the free throw line (60.7%).
Jon Scheyer pointed to the defense in his post game and the amount of uncontested layups the Blue Devils game up. The Blue Devils would coast to an 18 point win but the game leaves more questions for this team than it answered.
