Though this game was competitive, I'm not sure the final result was in doubt. Duke just seemed to be superior. Utah only led for a few moments of the game, leading 8 - 5 at one point. Essentially, what kept it close was either Utah's tough defense or Duke's occasional loss of focus. I'm really not sure which it was. Duke had 14 turnovers and some of those turnovers were just stupid. It was like at times that the Duke passers just weren't paying attention to what they were doing. I didn't feel that Utah was exactly pressing Duke so I'm not sure why there were so many dumb passes being made. I suspect that if Duke had been more careful with their passing, this game would have been won by double digits.
What I noticed:
Duke only attempted 9 three pointers. They missed all their three pointers in the 1st half. I scanned through a handful of Duke games where they scored around the same number of points. Against San Diego State where they scored 68, they shot 14 three pointers. Against Virginia (69 points), they tossed up 17. Against Louisville (63), they attempted 15. I have to admit that considering that Jahlil Okafor was almost constantly double teamed, I'm surprised Duke only took 9 attempts. Of the 3 they made, all were made by Justise Winslow.
Best play of the game: Amile Jefferson getting the ball, saw the defenders backing off, and then taking it to the basket for a slam dunk.
Defense defense defense. I have to say I've been really impressed with how Duke's played defense throughout this tournament. Actually, I'm astonished. I've complained that it seemed to me that all a team needed to do against Duke was drive it to the basket, because there was always a wide open lane. Somehow, over the course of the last couple weeks, Duke's learned how to play defense. Let's hope they keep it up.
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