2. The Defense Bounced Back
One game after letting Wake Forest shoot 60.4% from the floor and 52.9% from beyond the arc, Duke smothered Louisville with one of the most encouraging defensive performances of the Blue Devils' season.
The Cardinals shot 41.1% overall and made only a trio of three-pointers on 17 attempts. Mark Mitchell and Jeremy Roach had three steals apiece, and the swarming intensity held Louisville to just 23 points in the first half as Duke put the game away fairly quickly.
Duke’s help side defense creates a miss by Miami and it leads to McCains transition dunkpic.twitter.com/eFK450Dljj
— JMann_ (@JMannsTakes)February 23, 2024
The experienced group has communicated particularly well of late, holding six of their last seven opponents to fewer than 70 points. Defense is the biggest question mark for the Blue Devils, who rank 100th in opponent effective field goal percentage (49.1%) on the season overall.
If the defense can string together high-effort, disruptive performances in the postseason, the sky is the limit. We know how good this offense can be with every starter capable of putting up points in bunches, so the defensive improvement is exciting to see.
That being said, Duke did commit 19 fouls. Louisville made only 10 of 19 free throws so it wasn't particularly damaging, but the Blue Devils need to maintain their intensity while avoiding foul trouble down the stretch.
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