Louisville won the first half but Duke won the second and with that, the game, winning 84-73.
The first half against Louisville really didn’t start very well for Duke as Ryan Conwell hit his first three three point attempts and finished the half with four. Louisville was ridiculous from behind the line. Backup big man Ali Khalifa hit four threes of his own.
Louisville hit 10-21 of their attempts from behind the line.
Meanwhile, Duke struggled. The Blue Devils shot just 5-17 from behind the line for
29% and 12-33 overall for just 36%. Cam Boozer and Isaiah Evans finished the half with 14 and 13 points respectively but their teammates didn’t do much damage. Caleb Foster had 4 but no one else had more than two.
Duke had a number of chances around the basket but couldn’t convert.
And at 11:31 there was a bizarre situation: Kasean Pryor put his head into Pat Ngongba’s chest and essentially head-butted him. Ngongba pushed his head away, which seems perfectly reasonable under the circumstances. However, Pryor made a big production out of it, the play was reviewed and both players were assigned technicals.
Then, 19 seconds later, Ngongba seemingly wanted to make a point. He drove to the basket, missed, and was called for a foul and suddenly he had three and Duke was down Right after that, Conwell hit his only two point shot of the half to put Louisville up 26-14.
It was kind of emblematic of the first half, which did not well for Duke at all. However, Boozer did shoot 6-7 before the break.
Duke came out of halftime playing much tougher and especially on the defensive end. Dame Sarr really shut Conwell down and the three point attack, so deadly in the first half, was much less effective.
Boozer picked up his third foul with 15:30 to play but it didn’t deter his aggression. First he drove on Khalifa, who drew his third foul. Boozer then converted the three point play.
With 13:36 to play, Sananda Fru picked up his 4th and put Boozer at the line. He hit the shot to put Duke up for the first time, 54-53.
With 11:50 to play, Duke was up 59-55.
Louisville, so hot from outside in the first half, didn’t hit a three until, we think, Khalifa hit one with 11:25 left.
The Cards took the lead back at 60-59 but that didn’t last long.
Duke rallied behind a tough layup by Foster and a corner three by Evans to put Duke up 64-62. Louisville hit a shot then Foster hit another tough drive to put Duke back ahead, 66-62.
Louisville was not playing with the same confidence it had earlier. Isaac McKneely seemed to rush a deep shot that could have cut the lead to 68-65.
Not long after, Boozer hit a three to give Duke a 71-62 lead. J’vonne Hadley fouled Boozer on a subsequent drive and Louisville’s body language was very different after that. Frustration was evident on Hadley’s face, other players and also on the bench.
The Blue Devils went up 79-66 on a Foster layup and there wasn’t much Louisville could to control him. He finished the game with 20.
In the closing minutes, Duke made great play after great play: a steal here, a block there and Louisville was helpless to stop the onslaught.
Ultimately, Duke outscored the Cards 46-26. In the end, it was a dominant performance by the Blue Devils as they move to 13-1 on the season.
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