Sunday, January 21, 2007

Duke 79, NC State 56

Just a fantastic game in all aspects yesterday by Duke. Both offensive and defensive execution and efficiency were excellent. NC State was held to just an 80.0 ORating, and their shooting was especially frustrated. Prior to yesterday's game, State was shooting at a .655 EFG% on the conference season. Yesterday, their EFG% was .390, including a 10 for 30 performance on 2s. Duke also forced 20 Pack turnovers in 70 possessions, or 28.6%. On offense, Duke seemed to be able to get into the lane and get open shots at ease. Part of this was the result of superb offensive spacing and very good ball movement. Even though there were still a couple too many turnovers, that is as effective as the offense has run all year. Scheyer and Paulus both had very solid games in the backcourt, and McRoberts was once again magnificent in all aspects of the game. David McClure also played extremely valuable minutes, and although the comparisons to Nate James are certainly warranted, he showed flashes of a game that was more polished, like Carrawell's. McClure had a very nice drive for a layup where he demonstrated great body control, he hit jumpers, and played solid lockdown defense. All in all, it was a very fun game to watch. NC State only kept it as close as it was thanks to a tightly called game and some excellent free throw shooting. Here's the efficiency table for the game:

Player
O Poss. Points OPPP D Poss. Points DPPP
McRoberts ON 63 75 1.190 64 49 0.766

OFF 5 4 0.800 6 7 1.167
Scheyer ON 56 70 1.250 58 51 0.879

OFF 12 9 0.750 12 5 0.417
Nelson ON 58 73 1.259 59 47 0.797

OFF 10 6 0.600 11 9 0.818
Paulus ON 51 62 1.216 52 46 0.885

OFF 17 17 1.000 18 10 0.556
Henderson ON 33 30 0.909 33 23 0.697

OFF 35 49 1.400 37 33 0.892
McClure ON 46 55 1.196 48 43 0.896

OFF 22 24 1.091 22 13 0.591
Thomas ON 18 21 1.167 18 11 0.611

OFF 50 58 1.160 52 45 0.865
Zoubek ON 5 4 0.800 6 7 1.167

OFF 63 75 1.190 64 49 0.766
Pocius ON 6 5 0.833 7 3 0.429

OFF 62 74 1.194 63 53 0.841
Davidson ON 2 0 0.000 2 0 0.000

OFF 66 79 1.197 68 56 0.824
Johnson ON 2 0 0.000 2 0 0.000

OFF 66 79 1.197 68 56 0.824
Pagliuca ON 0 0 0.000 1 0 0.000

OFF 68 79 1.162 69 56 0.812
Duke Overall
68 79 1.162 70 56 0.800


A couple comments on the numbers. This was the second straight game during which the offense has struggled (comparatively) with Henderson on the court. It's noticeable watching the games, too - he's the only one of the top 7 in the rotation who looked like he hasn't quite figured out exactly how to move without the ball and where to be in the offense. However, his performance has been steadily improving as conference play roles on. He's no longer only looking to score whenever he gets the ball, and seems more selective about picking his spots. His progress is encouraging. This was also the second consecutive game where the team has been substantially better with Nelson on the court than without. This time the dramatic difference was shown more on offense than on defense, but it's clear that he's equally indispensable as McRoberts. Even on a day where his own personal shooting wasn't as good as it has been this year, the offense as a whole clicked when he was there (witness, for example, two pretty drive-and-dish plays to McRoberts).

Duke tempo-free stats are updated through the NC State game. After tonight's Maryland-Virginia Tech game, conference-only tempo-free team and player stats will make their debut. I'll have some comments about those stats so far when they're updated.

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