Duke Downs Iowa In The Jimmy V Classic, 74-62

Dec 7, 2022 - 6:27 AM
NCAA Basketball: Jimmy V Classic-Iowa at <a href=Duke" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/0PVxnYUKfhxOQr6PgdQj-5SZUoA=/0x0:4592x2583/1920x1080/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71720293/usa_today_19577626.0.jpg" />
: Dec 6, 2022; New York, New York, USA; Duke Blue Devils forward Dariq Whitehead (0) drives to the basket against Iowa Hawkeyes forward Payton Sandfort (20) during the first half at Madison Square Garden. | Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports




With Duke’s 74-62 win over Iowa, the Blue Devils are now 2-1 in the Big Ten and 1-0 in the ACC.

Just kidding but wins over solid Iowa and Ohio State teams counts for a lot.

For a time in the first half, it was a pretty even game. Duke surged ahead several times only to see the competitive Hawkeyes pare the lead back down. But at about 7:40 in the first half, the Blue Devils started to pull ahead and though Iowa certainly never gave up, they just weren’t quite good enough to pull off a legitimate comeback.

Iowa did a good job early of getting to Kyle Filipowski, holding him to (we think) just four points in the first half, but the rest of the team looked a lot more polished and it has on offense for much of the season. Jeremy Roach was aggressive and confident and played like a guy who likes the big stage.

The others, with the exception of Dereck Lively, who got in some foul trouble, played very well. Jeremy Roach is developing into a leader who is willing to take big shots, Tyrese Proctor is a different player now than he was 14 days ago and Mark Mitchell played very well on both ends.

And Duke got solid bench play, with a huge rebounding game from Ryan Young, who finished with 11 and two offensive, and Dariq Whitehead had his best game at Duke so far.

Whitehead scored eight points off the bench, which by itself is not overly impressive. What was impressive was that the rust is fading away and his instincts are growing sharp again.

So we saw him making good passes (three assists) and slicing into the lane that reminded us a bit of Dwyane Wade. Whitehead hit two layups, one of them particularly impressive.

His game is reviving day by day. Iowa wasn’t quite a breakout, but it’s not far off, either. It’s coming.

Jacob Grandison and Jaylen Blakes also played. Grandison didn’t score much but he played with calm and maturity, making plays that you only do with experience. Blakes didn’t score either but at this point in his career, offense is a bonus. His primary role is on defense. However, he did get four rebounds in nine minutes, which is impressive, not least of all because he was one of the smaller guys on the court.

There were some lapses, but Duke’s defense in general was pretty good, especially on Iowa star Kris Murray, who was mostly covered by Mitchell and Whitehead. He finished 3-9 and had seven boards, three offensive. All of his makes were right at the rim. Limiting him sharply was a big deal for the Devils.

Patrick McCaffrey played fairly well and with controlled aggression. We like his game a lot. And we were surprised that Filip Rebraca did as well as he did. We didn’t know a lot about him but we thought he’d be at a major disadvantage (of course Lively’s fouls worked to his advantage).

Collectively though, Iowa shot just 39.7 percent and just 3-16 from deep, which speaks well of Duke’s collective defense.

As the second half wore on, Duke began to dominate, building an 18 point lead at 61-43 with 7:52 left on a Whitehead jumper.

But give the Hawkeyes credit: that team never gave up.

McCaffrey cut the lead back to 11 with 6:17 to go and Duke pushed the lead back out to 17 with 4:31 remaining.

Duke went up 68-52 on a Tyrese Proctor foul shot with 3:37 left, then the real rally began. Iowa ripped off eight straight to cut the lead to 68-60 with 1:07 left.

Jeremy Roach hit two free throws after being fouled by Hawkeye freshman Dasonte Bowen to calm things down a bit and then Bowen missed a layup. Kyle Filipowski got the rebound and started a break that ended with Mitchell getting a dunk and putting the Blue Devils back up by 12.

Bowen followed that sequence with a turnover, which made for three freshman mistakes in the final 1:07.

He’s probably upset right now but that will help him later.

For Duke, it was a good test in a number of ways. Obviously, other teams are going to come after Filipowski more and more, just as Iowa did. For Duke, it’s really important to have alternatives for when Filipowski is jammed up. Roach came through, Mitchell came through, Whitehead and Proctor came through and Young certainly continued to rebound well.

Collectively, Duke shot 44 percent overall, 35 percent on threes (7-20) and hit 11-14 from the stripe. The ball movement is improving, the trust is improving and, in general, things are looking up.

By the way, a possibly underreported stat: Duke blocked seven shots, with Young getting three of those. That surprises us a bit. We realized this summer that he was a very smart player who was going to surprise, but the more we saw him, the more athletically limited he appeared. It’s entirely possible he got his blocks early in those shots - we’d have to go back and look - but whatever he did, it obviously worked. Young is one of those guys who had to overcome physical limitations with hard work and smarts. He’s wonderful to watch.

While we would have liked to see more of Lively in this game, Whitehead is emerging and his talent set is going to change this team, possibly significantly. We aren’t ready to say that Duke can go toe to toe with every team in the country, but they’re getting close to that level.








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