Three takeaways from No. 9 Duke basketball’s tougher-than-expected win over Southern Indiana
Poor shooting and lax defense caused No. 9 Duke to find itself down by double-digits again and again and again in the first half Friday night against unheralded Southern Indiana.
Finally, a trapping defense drew the Blue Devils out of their funk.
After trailing by four points at halftime, Duke scored the first 11 points of the second half to move in front on the way to an 80-62 win over the Screaming Eagles.
Despite only defeating Tiffin, a Division II team from Ohio, this season, Southern Indiana (1-6) hit 7 of 14 3-pointers in the first half at Duke to lead by as many as 10 points on multiple occasions. But Duke held the Screaming Eagles to just one field goal over the final five minutes of the first half before opening the second half with a scoring onslaught to take the lead for good.
“We came out with a mindset tonight that we shouldn’t come out with against any team,” said Kyle Filipowski, Duke’s preseason All-American forward. “That affected us early on. We’ve just got to keep that strong mentality going forward.”
Duke’s game-changing run, over the final minutes of the first half and stretching into the second half, was 25-5.
FIlipowski scored 21 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for Duke (5-1), which shot 60.7% in the second half to finish at 48.2% for the game. Jeremy Roach scored 18 points for the Blue Devils.
Freshman guard Jared McCain added 10 points for Duke while Tyrese Proctor scored 11 points with seven assists. The Blue Devils made just 5 of 18 3-pointers.
Southern Indiana’s A.J. Smith scored 11 points with 13 rebounds.
Here are three takeaways from the game:
It took Duke a while to get going
Rated No. 336 nationally by Ken Pomeroy, Southern Indiana built six different 10-point leads in the first half before leading 35-31 at halftime.
A 12-0 run by the Screaming Eagles got them going early as Duke started 3 of 16 from the field, including 1 of 7 on 3-pointers.
Duke coach Jon Scheyer called a timeout with 8:40 to play in the first half, with his team behind by 10 points, and had an emphatic conversation with his team.
“His message was, like, we can’t turn on and off because we’re still working on our habits,” Roach said. “It’s the sixth game of the year and habits are important.”
Over the final 3:29 of the first half, Scheyer put four starters on the bench. Tyrese Proctor was on the court, surrounded by reserves Jaylen Blakes, Caleb Foster, Sean Stewart and Ryan Young.
“That group,” Scheyer said, “you never know when your number is going to be called. They just picked up the energy. They picked up the fight on defense.”
Duke went to a full-court press and scored seven consecutive points. Stewart played a big role, grabbing an offensive rebound off Foster’s missed free throw, then tipping an offensive rebound back to Foster off a miss on a play that resulted in a Foster basket that cut Duke’s deficit to 32-27.
When Foster missed a contested layup, Young’s offensive rebound and stick back left Duke trailing 32-29.
Rebounding an issue for Duke
At one point of the first half, Southern Indiana held a 19-14 rebounding edge over the Blue Devils. Better rebounding helped Duke find its groove, though.
By halftime, the rebounding battle was even at 20. Duke finished with 38 rebounds to Southern Indiana’s 33, with Filipowski doing most of the work in that area for the Blue Devils. Mitchell had six rebounds but no other Duke player had more than four.
In Duke’s three previous games prior to Friday night, the Blue Devils won the rebounding battles against Michigan State, Bucknell and La Salle.
Duke’s leaky defense
The Blue Devils allowed Southern Indiana to find driving lanes in its half-court offense, which too often led to points in the paint or a kick-out pass for an open 3-pointer. The Screaming Eagles took advantage of those Duke lapses in the first half.
“For me, it was just our defense,” Scheyer said. “We were giving up layups like crazy.”
When Duke utilized its trapping defense, it changed the game’s dynamic as the pace quickened at the Screaming Eagles made more mistakes. After Duke took the lead in the second half, its half-court defense was better than the first half but still wasn’t as solid as usual.
The Screaming Eagles finished 9 of 21 on 3-pointers (42.9%) while committing 12 turnovers. Southern Indiana shot 40.8% overall, including 38.5% in the second half.
“We’ve been good defensively,” Scheyer said. “Clearly, we’re still not where we need to be by the end of the year but I thought we were making strides. I thought that showed where our heads were at (against Southern Indiana). Giving up layups in transition. Letting guys get behind us. That’s not how we’ve played.”
This story was originally published November 24, 2023 at 8:10 PM.