Duke’s win over Pitt was not flawless. It was not one we will talk about in years to come. But it was an important win, and some really good things happened—not least of all succeeding while Pat Ngongba had to sit due to a wrist injury.
Pitt started out hot, running out to a 12-6 lead and doing something they don’t typically do: hitting threes.
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Didn’t last.
Duke took the lead at 15-12, and while the Blue Devils didn’t get much separation, they did pull away at halftime, going up 35-29 on a Darren Harris three.
By halftime, while Pitt had hit 7 threes, the Panthers were shooting just 39% overall while Duke was hitting 15-27 on their shots, which helped to overcome their 2-9 from behind the line.
Pitt didn’t really stop Duke’s shots, but they did disrupt the Blue Devils, forcing 5 first-half turnovers.
Duke continued to shoot well in the second half, improving their three-point shooting from 22% to 39% by the end of the game, and Pitt just couldn’t keep up. And while they continued to turn Duke over, finishing with 13, they never caught up again. Duke built a double-digit lead and really expanded it late: Duke was up 59-49 with 4:33 to play before turning on the afterburners: down the stretch, the Blue Devils outscored Pitt 11-5 for a 16-point win.
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Cameron Boozer struggled to an extent, scoring 17 points and grabbing 9 rebounds; he had 4 turnovers, continuing a recent trend.
But Isaiah Evans and Caleb Foster came through in a big way. Evans finished with a game-high 21, and Foster played with a ton of confidence and swagger, racking up 14.
Boozer shot 6-9/1-2, Evans hit 8-10/5-6, and Foster hit 6-11/1-3.
Duke also significantly out-rebounded Pitt, 39-23 overall and 8-7 on the offensive end.
We’ve been intrigued by Roman Siulepa for a while, and he’s impressive. He finished with 19. Barry Dunning had 17, but no one else scored more than 6 points. Nojus Indrusaitis hit a three and celebrated, but he shot 20% overall, so there wasn’t a whole lot to celebrate, really.
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Duke did better without Ngongba than we expected. They’ll need more from Nik Khamenia if Big Pat is out for long. That said, other guys stepped up and put Duke in position to move to 22-2/11-1. Next up—Clemson at home this weekend.
Notes: This wasn’t one of Maliq Brown’s better games, but he’s still a pain defensively…plus he played somewhat out of position…Pitt’s injuries were a huge factor…Foster had 8 rebounds while Dame Sarr had 7…Foster also had 5 assists…Pitt’s Cam Corhen played 35 minutes but wasn’t much of a factor with 6 points and 3 rebounds…
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