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Official game day thread- Duke vs TTU

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Mac9192

Heisman
Jan 25, 2017
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Teams know Duke gets a ton of attention, so they want to beat us. When the other team is talented too? Makes for a deadly combo when talent and hunger meet.

We may not lack the talent, but I do wonder about our hunger.
 
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The Only Blue

The Only Blue

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Nov 10, 2021
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Mac9192 said:
We screwed the pooch, from Jon on down. Tech was shorthanded before the game, then two guys fouled out. Toppin played with 4 on him almost all second half. Big Pat should have had his way, yet he only scored 4 points. Evans and Foster? One was MIA, and the other was below average, at best.

We have to get a lot hungrier than we showed tonight.
Click to expand...
Once toppin got his fourth and the others were gone, we should have gone inside every possession. Instead we decided to keep on jacking up three's.
 
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sheyduke

All-American
Apr 13, 2010
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The Only Blue said:
Once toppin got his fourth and the others were gone, we should have gone inside every possession. Instead we decided to keep on jacking up three's.
Click to expand...
This reminded me of the Arkansas, Houston game . When Arkansas kept going inside to Ewin Houston’s bigs couldn’t do anything then they got away from it in the second .
when big Pat caught that technical I think it took him mentally out the game .
I thought we had a good chance at loosing this one but man it really is on the coaches.
 
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JimboSlice00

All-American
Sep 19, 2021
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Man last night was a bad one and I think it brought back memories of the Houston loss for me. That loss last year really had me upset and I took a few months off of sports in general after that. No matter if anyone wants to admit it or not, last year was our best opportunity we might have in a long time to hang #6. That team goes down with the 99 team in terms of what should have been.

looking back and at the season as a whole, 11-1 with five quad one wins is a damn good year so far. Our first two ACC games are against GT and FSU which are lower tier teams so we should settle right in.

having said that, this team had no business losing that game last night. The point guard play, Evans not stepping up and being a true second option on offense, and Sarr has been a monumental disappointment are holding this team back from being truly elite. They are a good team and should be in the mix all year as a top 10-12 team but Duke HAS to get more out of their guards.

I sincerely hope the Houston and Tech games were learning experiences for Jon. Duke absolutely made the right decision hiring him and he’s the best young coach in the country. However, nights like last night cannot happen with these collapses at the end of games where players and staff completely freeze and don’t make adjustments.
 
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pisgah101

pisgah101

Heisman
Dec 26, 2005
15,649
13,548
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Shouldn’t have lost but not really concerned. 11-1 at this point is something we would have all taken
 
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JustAfanatic

All-Conference
Dec 9, 2007
947
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I didn’t understand why those times TT players backed in, that we didn’t dig down and force the ball back out or at least force a picked up dribble. They weren’t hitting jumpers so I would have done that.

I don’t blame the staff as much as most of you do, we hit just 70% FT and we win by 5 or so.

I am not worried at all, 11-1 is a great start.
 
A

AlanInNJ1

Junior
Jul 16, 2025
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I was at the game, finally getting a chance to post. I agree with the general sentiments here. We should NOT have lost that game, but still 11-1 with lots of quality wins and single one point loss. I actually don't like going into ACC play undefeated as weird as that sounds.

At the risk of being a guru, I will just share comments from my experience last night;

This was an emotional rollercoaster game. Duke got punched in the the mouth the first 5 mins. They dominated the next 25 minutes, and then folded in the final 10. Nobody stepped up. That's concerning. Out lack of a guard that can attack the rim is alarming. Nobody can take the ball the rim right now. Too often we settled for 3's instead of going inside and exploiting their foul trouble.

TT guards hit some big shots down the stretch. Those back to back threes late were killers. They had been clanking them badly most of the game.

It's hard to beat good times shooting 50% from the line. On the big stage, we need to be better than that.

Cam was off on his outside shot in warmups. If you were there and watching, you would have seen his poor body language as he bricked three after three in warmups. He fought hard in the game, but why we went with a play for him to take the last shot 3 when we have multiple 3 point specialists is beyond me. I will say it was a well designed play that got him a wide open look. I had a perfect view from behind him, and I knew he missed it the second it left his hands. Why not run a play for Evans or let Foster drive?

Lastly, in my section, some of the TT fans were obnoxious to the point that on two different occasions security had to come diffuse squabbles. It was not all of them, but some of them made for a lousy experience. I hate to see that. TT won, Duke lost, it should be a "congrats on the win" and move on. If you're a TT fan, you should celebrate your national championship respectfully. It was far from that in my section.

Anyway, it was an entertaining game. If Cam made that last shot, MSG would have exploded, I am sorry I didn't get to experience that.

Next!!
 
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C

christophero

Heisman
May 2, 2017
17,371
21,082
113
One loss; not a big deal. Maybe memories of Houston last year. Whether it's youth or something else we don't really seem to relish playing in tight games. Even if we had won last night it seems like we were hanging on for dear life instead of taking the game. That comes with experience and we are a very young team. we will see if by year's end we have the moxie to survive a game like this. We did against Florida.
 
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JustAfanatic

All-Conference
Dec 9, 2007
947
1,033
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AlanInNJ1 said:
I was at the game, finally getting a chance to post. I agree with the general sentiments here. We should NOT have lost that game, but still 11-1 with lots of quality wins and single one point loss. I actually don't like going into ACC play undefeated as weird as that sounds.

At the risk of being a guru, I will just share comments from my experience last night;

This was an emotional rollercoaster game. Duke got punched in the the mouth the first 5 mins. They dominated the next 25 minutes, and then folded in the final 10. Nobody stepped up. That's concerning. Out lack of a guard that can attack the rim is alarming. Nobody can take the ball the rim right now. Too often we settled for 3's instead of going inside and exploiting their foul trouble.

TT guards hit some big shots down the stretch. Those back to back threes late were killers. They had been clanking them badly most of the game.

It's hard to beat good times shooting 50% from the line. On the big stage, we need to be better than that.

Cam was off on his outside shot in warmups. If you were there and watching, you would have seen his poor body language as he bricked three after three in warmups. He fought hard in the game, but why we went with a play for him to take the last shot 3 when we have multiple 3 point specialists is beyond me. I will say it was a well designed play that got him a wide open look. I had a perfect view from behind him, and I knew he missed it the second it left his hands. Why not run a play for Evans or let Foster drive?

Lastly, in my section, some of the TT fans were obnoxious to the point that on two different occasions security had to come diffuse squabbles. It was not all of them, but some of them made for a lousy experience. I hate to see that. TT won, Duke lost, it should be a "congrats on the win" and move on. If you're a TT fan, you should celebrate your national championship respectfully. It was far from that in my section.

Anyway, it was an entertaining game. If Cam made that last shot, MSG would have exploded, I am sorry I didn't get to experience that.

Next!!
Click to expand...

I’ll add that I didn’t understand the final play lineup. When I saw Pat in there I wondered if we might try a back screen ally or something.

Not enough time for rebound putback so I’d gone with the Boozers, Evans, Foster, and Harris.
 
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BigRedLar

All-Conference
Aug 28, 2006
7,334
1,766
113
Loss is on the Coach S. By far his worst coaching performance. They had every advantage but couldn't capitalize. No number 2 stepped up in crunch time. You make free throws - you win easily.
 
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M

Mac9192

Heisman
Jan 25, 2017
9,943
13,999
107
I am not trying to be negative to those that say “it’s only one game, we’re still 11-1.” Or the “we win if we hit our free throws.” Those are true statements, but I think that’s refusing to admit a true shortcoming we have. Which is a lack of a point guard that can take over a game, and score from anywhere. We really haven’t had one since maybe Tre Jones. I still say our lack of one is why we didn’t win it all in 22 and 25.

I think it’s also a problem when we are running our offense so much through Cam 20 feet from the basket. I’d prefer him facilitating from the paint area.

Evans, Ngongba, and our wings have to pick up their play too.
 
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