After each Duke men’s basketball game this season, check back here for the Player of the Game and more. The Blue Devils handily beat Pittsburgh Tuesday night 75-53, and the Blue Zone is here to break down the contest:
One player: Kyle Filipowski
The preseason ACC Player of the Year certainly put on a show that put the conference on notice. After a recent downturn in production, Kyle Filipowski had a near-perfect night to lead the Blue Devils in their win. The sophomore center caught fire offensively, and ended the night 11-of-12 from the field and 4-of-4 from beyond the arc. He finished the game with 26 points and 10 rebounds, his fifth double-double of the season.
Filipowski seemed to hit his stride, and his performance reminded viewers the immense impact his play has on the team. Although none of his stats were season highs, the complete nature of his performance was especially powerful. While getting into early foul trouble has limited his production recently, Tuesday was a clean game for the Westtown, N.Y., native, who only had one foul in 30 minutes on the court. This was Filipowski’s best game of ACC play so far this season, which is especially promising, as the schedule only continues to heat up for the Blue Devils.
One word: Rhythm
Coming off a game against Notre Dame that saw the team start slowly offensively, Duke bounced back tremendously with a hot start. Right from tipoff, the Blue Devils found their stride, heated up and never looked back. Pittsburgh hung tough, but as Duke continued to make buckets, its defense got stronger, holding down the Panthers. Head coach Jon Scheyer locked in to his gameplan, and shared the ball well to get quality looks at the basket. Powered by 3-pointers, the Blue Devils led by 25 at half, fully in command. The Duke lead stretched all the way to 34 almost midway through the second half, where Scheyer backed off the gas, subbing in freshmen forwards Sean Stewart and TJ Power for valuable minutes. While the lead closed to 22 by the end of the game, the rhythm the Blue Devils found early paved the way for a great team win. The team continued an impressive stretch of games, and a truly dominant performance on the road should lead them to more strong showings.
One stat: Nine first half threes
Rhythm was found especially from behind the arc, as Duke cashed in nine 3-pointers in the first frame, three of them from Filipowski. Efficient passing led to great looks from deep, and multiple Blue Devils got in on the action. Freshman guard Jared McCain continued to come into his own as a strong role player, especially from 3-point range, cashing in two with two other close misses. McCain is not afraid to shoot the ball, and his mentality to consistently look for shots has served him well thus far. Fellow freshman guard Caleb Foster heated up as well, scoring two of his three attempts from deep, showing again why he deserves a spot in the starting lineup as sophomore guard Tyrese Proctor returns from injury. It wasn’t the best 3-point performance overall on the year, but it was a necessary one as Duke comes off of some down games from downtown. It was a promising performance that should overall help the team as it continues on this season.
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