Jan 6, 2024; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Duke Blue Devils guard Jared McCain (0) celebrates with his teammates after a basket in the first half against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at the Purcell Pavilion. MATT CASHORE USA TODAY Sports
It was not pretty, but Duke managed to secure their first road win of the season. It was tight throughout but Duke found a way to prevail in the end.
Observations:
Rebounding issues
Duke struggled on the defensive glass, allowing Notre Dame to pull down 10 offensive rebounds in this one. Duke’s failure to box out played a large role in Notre Dame being able to hang around in the second half. Outside of Mark Mitchell, the rebounding effort was poor for the most part.
Mark Mitchell’s scoring
Mark Mitchell took this game over offensively in the second half. Not only was he scoring in the paint, but even more noteworthy he knocked down multiple jump shots in this game, including two three pointers. He finished with 23 points on 8/12 from the field and also did a good job of getting to the free throw line where he was 5/5.
In addition to his huge offensive night, he also grabbed 14 rebounds. He was sensational overall.
Tyrese Proctor very passive
Tyrese Proctor has a tendency to be passive offensively however he was especially passive Saturday night. It resulted in him being sent to the bench in crunch time for the first time this season as Coach Scheyer opted to go with Foster in his place to close the game. Proctor went 0/4 from the field in 22 minutes of play though to his credit he did have three assists. Duke needs Proctor to attack more moving forward.
Carless with basketball
Duke was uncharacteristically careless with the ball. While their 11 turnovers was not significantly higher than their season average of 9.4 turnovers per game, the way the turnovers occurred were very sloppy. There was an unusual number of careless passes from the Blue Devils and the turnover total could have easily been higher.
Up Next: at Pittsburgh – Tuesday at 9:00pm EST