Duke v. Lousiville: Recap
The 10th-ranked Duke Blue Devils beat the Louisville Cardinals 84-59 last night at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Duke was led by Jeremy Roach’s 19 points, Mark Mitchell’s 17 points, and an explosive second half where they scored 48 points.
Duke has now won their last five games against the Cardinals and secured themselves a double-bye in the ACC Tournament with this win.
In their first possession, Jared McCain put Duke on the board with two free throws. Followed by a layup from Tyrese Proctor and a slam from Mitchell, Duke led this game 6-3 in the early going.
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Roach opened Duke to its first double-digit lead of the game at 23-13.
The lead was as large as 16, but Lousiville was able to cut the margin down to 13 at halftime, with the score being 36-23.
Duke opened the second half on a 9-2 scoring run and extended their lead to 18, 43-25. This forced Louisville to call a timeout only 1:45 into the second half.
Louisville was able to cut the lead to 14 at the under-12 media timeout thanks to a shooting stretch where they went 5-of-7.
Out of the break, Duke followed Louisville’s hot streak with one of their own, making 6-of-7 to go up 23, 67-44, with a little over eight minutes left in the game.
The Blue Devils never lost control for the remainder of the game. Louisville was able to cut the lead to 18 at one point but never got any closer.
Duke closed the game out with seven of the final eight points and won the game 84-59.
How Did They Do It
The Duke Blue Devils held Louisville to only 23 points in the first half, matching the lowest first-half total from an ACC opponent this series.
They also held Louisville to 59 points total, 13.6 points below their season average. This isn’t new for the Blue Devils, as they have held 24 of their 28 opponents below their scoring average.
Duke also won the rebound battle 43-24. They are now 17-1 when out-rebounding their opponent.
The Blue Devils had 23 assists as well, which is one shy of the team’s overall season high.
Star Players:
Jeremy Roach was the Blue Devils leading scorer, 19, and made 3-of-4 from the three-point line. Duke is 14-2 when Roach makes at least three 3-pointers.
Mark Mitchell scored 17 points and had a career-high in steals with three. The Blue Devils are 31-3 when Mitchell scores at least 10 points, and 13-0 when he scores at least 15.
Tyrese Proctor notched seven assists with only one turnover. He also added eight points.
Kyle Filipowski, in his first game since the Wake Forest incident, scored nine points and grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds.
Jarred McCain scored 14 total points and cashed in four 3-pointers, going 4-of-7 from behind the three-point line.