Quotes & Notes - December 3
at Georgia Tech
After every game I always watch the press conference, read the quotes, and study the box score. Quotes & Notes is my wrap-up of Duke’s most recent game(s).
Quotes
“It was a tough day for us. One, losing Tyrese [Proctor] right away is a thing you have to react to in real time. Really, from the start of the game, we gave them some life with the threes. I thought they hit some tough shots, but for us, we have to do a better job starting off the game. And we didn’t start off well. The entire game, we’re fighting and clawing our way back. We’ve got something inside of us, because we did. We go up four. This is a time for us, for our team – we have a week of practice. We have to stick together. We’ve got to get together even closer. As a coaching staff, there are some things we have to look at and probably make some changes. But the biggest thing is really sticking together, being together on offense. I haven’t liked the way we’ve shared the ball the last two games. We had 11 assists, and we have a team, I believe, that should have close to 20 assists a game. It should come easier for us. For me, it was our defense. When we needed key stops, we didn’t get them. Credit Georgia Tech. They were ready to play, and they were ready to go. They did a great job, and we didn’t do enough. It’s a disappointing loss and it’s something we have to learn from.”
- Coach Scheyer’s Opening Statement after the Georgia Tech game
“Part of it is, there’s a certain attention to detail you have to have right away. I could go through the first three threes and how they got them. And we didn’t do what we talked about doing. But also, there’s a competitive edge you have to have. We did a good job overall with them on the offensive boards – they had six, we had 13. But still, there’s too many plays where a shot goes up and we’re turning and looking. On the ball screens, we’re not in on the ball the way we need to be. It’s all about the attention to detail. It’s not at the level it should be. Bottom line. And it’s what we have to get back to this week in practice.”
- Coach Scheyer on what needs to improve on defense
“We’ve just got to do what we talked about in practice. There’s no carryover. We said we’re not going to give them any threes in transition, not give them any threes to [Miles] Kelly. Give credit to Georgia Tech, they came out with fire. We’ve just got to do better in this week of practice.”
- Jeremy Roach on Duke’s poor start defensively
Stats
The shooting numbers continued to plague Duke. Georgia Tech shot 6 of 14 from three in the first half, en route to a 57.5% effective field goal percentage for the game. While Duke defended the three much better in the second half (GT was 1/9), the Yellow Jackets made 13 of 16 from two-point range after the break, driving their 1.33 points-per-shot on the afternoon. In two games combined this week, Duke made just 33 of 51 free throws and was outscored by 18 points from beyond the arc. The Blue Devils did not reach 1.00 pps efficiency from the floor (both 2-pt and 3-pt range) in either game. On a positive note, Duke had a 17-2 advantage (+15) in points off turnovers, their best differential in a game so far this season.
Notes
I’d be remiss to not mention the technical foul for taunting with Duke ahead 66-62 and 2:22 left in the game. I promise I won’t say this twice a week for the rest of the season but again, more than one thing can be true. Here is what’s true regarding that play. One, you cannot get a technical in that situation, bottom line. Two, it was clearly the right call based on the rules and, to me, it’s also clear that Mark was just reacting in the moment - it wasn’t predetermined or anything, just emotion coming out after two huge plays. Three, that play was not the reason Duke lost the game. After Georgia Tech tied it at 66, Duke went back ahead 68-66 before committing two turnovers on their next two possessions, while giving Georgia Tech four easy points on the pick-and-roll. I could go back and name several plays in the first half, or the slow start out of halftime that put Duke in an 11-point deficit. It is a lack of execution throughout the whole game, and almost never just one play (or player), responsible for the outcome.
Next Play: Saturday Dec 9 | 2:15 pm CW | Duke will get a much needed week to practice and recover, before hosting the Charlotte 49ers back in Cameron.
Thanks for reading, Go Duke!
Sources