This game was more than just the return of Kyrie Irving. Miles Plumlee was a rebounding machine. By the time he hit the bench for the first time, he already had ten rebounds. He also scored 8 points. And when he got an offensive rebound, he went straight up to get some of those points. Andre Dawkins (my belief being that Duke does well when Dawkins does well), was aggressive to the basket. Driving the ball a number of times. He did that when Duke played Virginia Tech, but he fouled out by being so aggressive. He wasn't as aggressive against Carolina, but was back at it against Hampton. Kyle Singler seemed to get out of his shooting slump. Nolan Smith was handing out the assists. Then we have Kyrie Irving. First time in the game he looked awful, especially out of control on one of his drives to the basket. Second time in the game, he took more of a back seat. He took more of a survey of the game -- I wonder if the coaches told him to take it easy. The last five minutes, explosion. Two drives to the basket. Two three pointers. I think my only concern regarding Irving is his lateral defense. He just didn't seem able to keep up with the person in front of him. This will obviously come though I guess one has to wonder if it'll come in March Madness. I suspect other Duke players need to make an effort to do some help defense for Irving. I also didn't get the sense that Irving being in the game caused as issues in regards to team play.
Now, of course, this was all against Hampton. Who knows if Miles Plumlee will continue to be a rebounding machine against Michigan. I suspect Dawkins will be just as aggressive, but must wonder if he'll get more fouls called on him. Hopefully, Singler has his shot back. And in regards to Irving, it'll be interesting to see if he gets 20 minutes on Sunday. I would think he woke up sore this morning. And it'll be interesting to see if he starts off like he ended the Hampton game.
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