The Blue Devils entered the Yum! Center with a lot still to prove. Having given up 50% shooting for 3 games in a row, it’s clear there are still some extensive issues defensively for Jon Scheyer’s squad. The first half against Louisville didn’t do a lot toward answering those questions or to quell the naysayers. Louisville, with the help of a porous Duke defense, got real comfy at home and bombarded Duke from beyond the arc. The Cardinals cashed in on ten 3-pointers in the first half with Ryan Conwell hitting 4-7 in the first half and Aly Khalifa hitting 4-4 – yes a 6’11 center who came in shooting under 33% from the field and under 28% from 3, hit four 3’s in the first half. Go figure.
The Cardinals had the Blue Devils down by as many as 12 points in the first stanza, but the Blue Devils started to show some signs of life toward the end of the half, trimming the lead down to 7 on an Isaiah Evans pull-up jumper. When the buzzer sounded signaling the end of the first half, the Blue Devils were down 9 and considering the first half perimeter defense, they were lucky it was only 9. Cam Boozer and Isaiah Evans carried the Blue Devils in the first half, keeping the game within reach, scoring 14 and 13 points respectively.
The second half began with Duke exerting more effort and energy on the defensive end, by the 13-minute mark of the half the score was tied 53-53 resulting from a Cam Boozer free thrown, his next free throw gave the Blue Devils their first lead of the game. The Blue Devils were unable to get separation from the Cardinals, who regained the lead at the 11-minute mark on a Ryan Conwell layup. Down by 1, The Blue Devils hit on a 13 to 2 run to push the lead to double digits, 72-62. The Cardinals never got closer than 7 and Duke cruised to an 84-73 win.
The second half saw a scoring explosion from Caleb Foster who scored 16 points in the half and 20 for the game (a career high), Foster got downhill time after time against the Cardinal defense going 9-13 for the game. His ability to break down the defense opened the game up for Duke drawing more attention, getting some good looks for Evans and Cam Boozer who were the main focus of the Louisville defensive effort. Foster and Boozer helped power Duke to a 40-26 edge in points in the paint. The other key to Duke’s victory was defensive effort, along with a few new schemes employed by Jon Scheyer. Dame Sarr, while not having a good day offensively, shined on the defensive end in the second half as the primary defender on Ryan Conwell. His defensive effort helped cool down the Cardinals’ ability to get open looks from 3.
Sarr and Duke held Louisville to 32.3% shooting overall and 11.8% from 3 in that second half, allowing Duke’s offense to catch up and create some breathing room.
Cameron Boozer paced the Blue Devils, scoring a game high 27 points, going 10-12 from the floor. The freshman forward also pulled down 8 rebounds, dished 4 assists and had 2 steals. Isaiah Evans off the heals of a career high 28 points, scored 23 at Louisville, grabbing 6 boards with 4 steals. Caleb Foster, who owned the second half, scored 20 for the game.
What We Learned
We learned that this team hasn’t lost it on the defensive end, but that they have to sustain the defensive effort for the entirety of the game. That has been sorely lacking for nearly a month, and hopefully the second half at Louisville shook some sense into a team that had to be embarrassed by the 7 half of basketball they played before that second half in the Yum! Center. Once again, Scheyer is leading a young team where he has to coach up good habits and coach against complacency – human nature is harder to coach against than any team Duke will play.