After early season road woes for the Blue Devils it was fair to assume a game on the road against a good Pitt team would be a close affair. Apparently someone forgot to alert the Blue Devils because Duke dispatched Pitt on their home floor in a workman like fashion most unceremoniously. Duke ran away with the lead in the first half, ending things rather early with a 48 point outburst in the first 20 minutes of action while limiting the Panthers to just 23 points.
The first half shooting numbers were in stark contrast to each other as the Blue Devils lit it up from the floor both inside and out with 60% shooting from the field overall and 53% from 3, while holding Pitt to just 28.6% from the field and 27.3% from 3. The Blue Devils in that first half also out-rebounded the 24th best rebounding team in the country 21 to 12.
The Blue Devils defense was spot on, holding Pitt’s leading scorer Blake Hinson to just 9 points, 10 below his average and a Pitt team that averaged just under 80 points to just 53 for the game. The Blue Devils coasted to a 22 point victory calling off the dogs fairly early in the second half.
Kyle Filipowski had one of his best games of the season, scoring 26 points on 11-12 shooting, making all 4 of his 3-point shots. Filipowski also notched another double-double, pulling down 10 rebounds. The Double-double Tuesday night was Filipowski’s fifth of the season.
Jared McCain also added double-figures to the Duke total scoring 12 points on 5-9 shooting and 2-5 from beyond the arc to go along with his 5 rebounds. Caleb Foster notched a career high in assists with 7 to lead the Blue Devils, scoring 8 points and hitting 2 of his 3 attempts from beyond the arc.
For the game the Blue Devils shot 52% from the field and 44% from beyond the arc, holding the Panthers to just 33% for the game and 33% from 3. The Blue Devils out rebounded the Panthers 42-26 for the game. The victory is Duke’s 7th straight, longest of the season thus far. Next up for Duke is a return match against Georgia Tech in Cameron Indoor Stadium Saturday at 5pm.
