Blue Devils bounce back. Three takeaways from No. 12 Duke basketball’s win at Louisville
No. 12 Duke saw two injured starters return — but only one made it to the end of the game — as the Blue Devils posted a tougher-than-expected win over last-place Louisville on Tuesday night.
Tyrese Proctor scored 24 points and Mark Mitchell, back after a two-game absence, added 20 as Duke defeated the Cardinals, 83-69, in ACC basketball at Louisville’s KFC Yum! Center.
Senior guard Jeremy Roach scored 10 points for Duke in his return to the lineup after missing Saturday night’s 80-76 loss to Pittsburgh with a knee injury. But Roach played only 17 minutes Tuesday night after spraining his right ankle during the first half.
Proctor, who came off the bench against Louisville after hitting just 3 of 10 shots against Pitt, made big shot after big shot to lift Duke to Tuesday’s win.
“He had such a great look the whole time and gave us poise and confidence,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said. “Love the way he shot the ball.”
Sophomore center Kyle Filipowski produced 17 points and 15 rebounds for the Blue Devils (14-4, 5-2 ACC), while the 6-9 Mitchell had 12 rebounds to go with his 20 points, giving Duke a pair of double-doubles from its starting big men.
“Mark and Flip on the boards were great,” Scheyer said. “I thought they just had a great presence the whole game.”
Mitchell and Filipowski helped Duke gain a commanding 43-28 rebounding edge.
“I told the team we’re gonna play the guys that defend and rebound,” Scheyer said.
Freshman guard Jared McCain finished with 10 points for the Blue Devils, who shot 46% overall while making 9 of 25 3-pointers.
Brandon Huntley-Hatfield scored 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead Louisville (6-13, 1-7 ACC), which lost its fourth consecutive game. The Cardinals shot 46.2% overall but made just five of 17 3-pointers. That included going 1 of 7 on 3-pointers in the second half.
“I think I think we got stops when we needed to,” Proctor said. “Last game against Pitt, we kept trading baskets and then we started missing shots and they took the lead. I think tonight, we started trading baskets early and then we locked in and got the stops when we needed to and then took advantage of it.”
A new ailment for Roach
After missing one game due to a knee injury, Roach was off to a strong start Tuesday night at Louisville before he twisted his ankle on a fast break. He left the game with 5:25 left in the first half to receive medical treatment.
Roach returned three minutes later and played the final 2:10 until halftime. He started the second half but played only 1:11 of the second half before he left the game to ice his right ankle.
A better start
One of Scheyer’s chief complaints after Saturday night’s loss to Pitt was how slowly his team started the game. The Panthers scored the first nine points.
Against Louisville, Duke looked more connected at both ends of the court while building a lead as large at 18 points in the first half. One example? Duke collected nine assists on its first 12 field goals.
The Blue Devils had 10 assists — nearly matching their total for the entire Pitt game — in the first half while taking a 45-34 halftime lead.
But Duke couldn’t repeat that strong start to begin the second half. After the Blue Devils failed to score over the final 2:44 of the first half to see their lead cut to 11, they missed their first four shots of the second half while also committing a turnover.
That allowed Louisville to cut Duke’s lead to 45-39, causing Scheyer to call a timeout.
The band was back together
With Roach and Mitchell healthy and able to start, Duke returned to a more familiar starting lineup that included those two along with Filipowski and freshmen guards McCain and Foster. That’s the starting lineup that captured the first seven wins of the eight-game winning streak Duke put together before losing, 80-76, without Roach and Mitchell last Saturday night.
With Tuesday night’s win, Duke is 8-0 this season with that starting lineup.
Of course, now there’s doubt if Roach will be able to start on Saturday at home against Clemson due to his ankle injury.
This story was originally published January 23, 2024 at 9:11 PM.