Multiple issues on the interior lead to Duke's 83-52 rout over Louisville
The Duke Blue Devils imposed their will in the second half to defeat the Louisville Cardinals 83-52.
A lot went wrong for Louisville tonight, but a key separator in the contest was the battle on the interior.
The Blue Devils came out on top in multiple interior-oriented categories. Some of those categories were points in the paint, rebounding, and second-chance points.
Paint issues (defense)
Offensively, the Blue Devils used Cameron Boozer to hunt mismatches in the post throughout. He drew multiple fouls and finished over the top against different assignments. The freshman forward finished with 19 points, and the majority of those points came around the rim on two-point field goals. He finished the game with seven made two-point field goals.
Patrick Ngongba also had a lot of success on the interior, finishing lobs, drawing fouls in the post, or cleaning up plays on the offensive glass. Louisville just didn’t have answers around the rim defensively, which was an issue throughout the entire game. He also clogged up the paint on defense and altered a lot of shots at the rim by the Cardinals.
Vangelis Zougris and J’Vonne Hadley were both tasked with defending Ngongba and Boozer, who are matchups where they give up at least three inches in terms of height. In terms of Hadley, he is giving up at least 25 pounds in weight to both of these frontcourt players. Asking him to battle on the interior against that size and weight for 29 minutes is a lot to ask of him.
On the night, the Blue Devils quadrupled Louisville’s points in the paint, ending with 42 compared to 10.
Paint issues (offense)
On the offensive end, Louisville struggled to convert its two-point attempts at the rim. They had some success establishing their guards in the paint, but failed to manufacture baskets when doing so.
On the night, the Cardinals went 5-for-20 on two-point attempts. Duke funneled shots to the rim and had the size and rim-protection to alter shots at the basket. Louisville’s guards struggled immensely to finish through contact, especially Mikel Brown Jr. He missed all 12 of his two-point shots in this contest.
Rebounding/second chance points
A major issue in this one was the disparity in the glass. In terms of total rebounds, Duke almost doubled Louisville on the glass, outrebounding them 47-26.
In terms of the offensive glass, Duke won that battle 15-9. This led to the Blue Devils outscoring the Cardinals 16-5 in terms of second-chance points.
Throughout this game, Duke was relentless in their pursuit of rebounds. They played to their strengths, using their positional size across the board and athletic advantages to impose their will on the glass. They sent multiple bodies at all times to the boards and consistently won the 50-50 balls.
“Tougher, more physical, beat us in the post, smacked us on the backboard,” Pat Kelsey told the Louisville Sports Radio Network. “48 percent of their misses, they got back. They were + 21 on the glass.”
Overall, this was an underwhelming effort from Louisville in terms of hustle and effort. They missed multiple block-outs and failed to do their work early on the glass, which led to these major disparities on the boards. A lot of what rebounding entails is pursuit and physicality, and Louisville lacked energy in both departments.
In totality, Louisville often was undersized at multiple positions, especially in the frontcourt. There were lineup combinations used where Louisville gave up a lot of size on the interior, and the Blue Devils took advantage of those situations. The lack of size, toughness, and physicality are all elements of the game that hurt them in this defeat. Their depth at the forward spot was a glaring issue in this game, as well.
“(Duke) beat us like we stole something,” Kelsey said. “In every way, shape, or form, they imposed their will.”
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