Anyone who expected Duke to completely run Florida out of Cameron clearly had no idea what they were talking about. When Jon Scheyer mentioned that Florida had “Championship DNA” it was clear what he meant. I never believed the whole “defending champion” nonsense – you can’t defend something you already own, but I do believe that Florida retained some very important pieces that over the course of this year will raise them to an elite level. Thomas Haugh and Alex Condon, among others, are both skilled on both sides of the ball, Haugh may very well be the best player in the SEC, and it showed last night. The talent and coaching are clear, but Florida, like Duke, is a team still finding their way. Regardless of both teams still figuring it out, the game had a March type of feel to it. Something you want in December, especially for a youngish Duke team where several guys are in completely different roles. I am certain Todd Golden felt the same.
The first five minutes saw the teams going back and forth, trading leads and eventually tying the game at 19. Duke closed the first half on a 17-5 run, with Cam Boozer leading the way, scoring 9 during the run. Florida’s Thomas Haugh kept the Gators afloat seeming scoring at will against the Blue Devil defense, hitting from inside, mid-range and even outside the arc, hitting a one of Florida’s 3 makes from 3 in the first half. Duke would eventually push out to a 36-24 halftime lead, but the second half told a different story. Despite having opportunities, the Blue Devils could never break completely away from the Gators and Florida responded after the half, scoring 14 of the first 18 points on the second half, putting them behind by just 2 points and within striking distance. Isaiah Evans responded with a couple of sweeping layups to curb the Florida run but Florida, but in a game of runs, Florida punched back with a 14-5 run and the game was tied at 59. Cam Boozer would score the next 5 for Duke, on a 3 and a layup to put Duke up 64-61, but Florida would find a way and wrestled the lead back from Duke on 5 straight points, including a Boogie Land 3-pointer. Following a Duke time out, Cam Boozer found Isaiah Evans on a designed play to draw the defense to him, leaving Evans open for 3. Boozer delivered. Evans sank it. Duke wins.
Florida was paced by Thomas Haugh scored a team high 24 points on 9-15 shooting, the Gators also got double figure efforts from Boogie Fland who scores 16 points but did so on 16 shots. Alex Condon also added 12 for Todd Golden’s team, going 4-11 and grabbing 10 rebounds. Reuben Chinyelu grabbed 14 boards to lead both teams.
For the Blue Devils, Cam Boozer added another monster game with 29 points, on 10-21 shooting and 3-9 from 3, he also grabbed 6 rebounds. Patrick Ngongba added 11 points, 5 rebounds and a team high 5 assists, the sophomore center also added 5 blocked shots. Isaiah Evans, despite a rough shooting night from 3 (1-8), hit the game winner. Evans also added a career high 5 blocked shots. In total, the Blue Devils blocked 11 shots, forced 13 turnovers, which they turned into 12 points. Florida punished the Blue Devils on the glass, out rebounding Duke 44-33, including 20 offensive rebounds which they converted to 15 points.
What Did We learn (I know Duke won, but there are things that have to be addressed)
I think we’ve learned a few things about the mettle of this team, the fight is there and that is something you really can’t teach and really shouldn’t have to. Duke has that. There is clearly trust, for Duke to draw up a play for Isaiah Evans to win this game, despite him having a poor shooting night, is one of the things that makes him a great coach to play for.
I think there are still things that are concerning, free throw shooting very nearly cost them in the late stages of this game. Clearly, Florida intentionally allowed Caleb Foster to get the ball on the in-bounds so they could foul him near the games’ end, and he did indeed miss the front end of the 1 & 1. Foster’s game has definitely gotten incrementally better and his defense this season has been a great bonus for Duke, but his struggles at the line are, at this point, not an anomaly but something concerning. As a team, Duke is hovering around 71-72%, Foster right now is sub 60%. It severely thins out Duke’s margin for error and something teams are going to look to exploit.
The other issue is that the scouting report on Florida was fairly simple, they are the best offensive rebounding team in the country, to allow them to get 20 – well above their season average, despite it being the first thing on the scouting report is a bit discouraging. Granted, Duke won’t face a team with this kind of rebounding ability very often this season, but with Michigan State on the horizon, well, you know the rest. Duke also needs a reliable second option, or at the very least increased production from the backcourt. Cameron Boozer scoring 29 points and Duke wins by 1 point is another non-sustainable statistic as good as Boozer is, teams are going to fully dive in on scheming to stop him and Jon Scheyer needs more from the backcourt to mitigate what is surely coming.