Defense Leads No. 9 Duke to 71-53 Win Over Notre Dame

Wednesday, February 7

Durham, N.C.

9 p.m.

Duke University

Notre Dame

Defense Leads No. 9 Duke to 71-53 Win Over Notre Dame

2/7/2024 11:21:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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DURHAM – No. 9 Duke used a balanced scoring attack, including a double-double by Mark Mitchell, to defeat Notre Dame, 71-53, on Wednesday night. The Blue Devils (17-5, 8-3) were led by Mitchell and Caleb Foster, who both scored 13 points, and finished with six players with at least seven points.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Both teams opened their scoring from beyond the arc, with Jeremy Roach drilling his first attempt of the game. Four straight points from Jared McCain gave Duke its first lead, 7-5, after a fastbreak layup three minutes into the game.
Caleb Foster scored on consecutive possessions, giving Duke a double-digit lead, 15-5, shortly before the under-12 timeout. A blocked shot by Sean Stewart was followed by an alley-oop slam from the freshman, pushing the Blue Devils' lead to 12, 17-5. Duke's defense held Notre Dame to 12 consecutive misses and an extended 20-2 run, spanning nearly nine minutes, established control for the home squad, 20-7.
Back-to-back three-pointers by Notre Dame narrowed Duke's advantage to nine, 22-13, at the under-eight timeout. Four straight points by the Blue Devils and a scoring drought of over three minutes by the Fighting Irish allowed Duke to go back up by 13, 26-13, with 5:02 on the clock. Tyrese Proctor connected on his first three-pointer of the night at the 2:06 mark and Duke headed into halftime in front, 33-25.
McCain opened the second half with a three-pointer and Mark Mitchell knocked down two free throws on Duke's next possession to open up a 13-point advantage, 38-25, 55 seconds into the second frame. Kyle Filipowski laid in a put-back bucket, making it a 52-39 lead and triggering a Notre Dame timeout at the 11:52 mark of the second half.
Duke logged seven unanswered points after a Roach layup at the 8:35 mark and the Blue Devils remained in front, 59-41, at the under-eight timeout. Mitchell capped off his double-double with an offensive rebound that led to McCain layup and a 69-53 Duke lead. The Blue Devils finished off the 71-53 victory with two free throws by Mitchell.

NOTES

Duke's defense limited Notre Dame to 53 total points, 8.9 below its season average of 61.9. The Blue Devils have held 19 of their 22 opponents to below their respective scoring average.
Duke's 17 consecutive points in the first half set a new season-high for longest scoring run, surpassing the 13 consecutive points it scored against Southern Indiana on Nov. 24 and versus Queens on Dec. 30.
The Fighting Irish finished with 53 points, matching the lowest output by a Duke opponent this season (at Pittsburgh, Jan. 9).
Notre Dame scored 25 first-half points, the second-lowest first-half output by a Duke opponent in ACC play, trailing only Pittsburgh's 23 on Jan. 9.
The Fighting Irish shot 33.9% from the field (20-of-59), equaling the second-lowest shooting percentage by a Duke foe this season. The Blue Devils held Pittsburgh to 32.8% field goal shooting on Jan. 9.
The Blue Devils won the rebounding battle, 43-35, matching the team's best rebounding performance in conference play, set at Louisville on Jan. 23.
The Blue Devils secured a season-best 16 offensive rebounds, bettering their 15 offensive caroms against Louisville on Jan. 23.
Duke finished with 21 second-chance points, compared to just two for Notre Dame.
Duke outscored the Fighting Irish 38-20 in the paint, the second straight game with an 18-point advantage inside.
Duke swatted six shot attempts, also matching the team's best shot-blocking effort in ACC action, first accomplished at Georgia Tech on Dec. 2.
The Blue Devils have now won four in-a-row against Notre Dame to increase their series advantage to 31-8 overall and 11-2 in Durham.
Mark Mitchell logged his third career double-double, scoring 13 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. All three of his double-doubles have come this season, and Duke is 3-0 in those games and 27-3 when Mitchell scores at least 10 points.
Caleb Foster finished with 13 points, including a perfect 4-for-4 from the charity stripe, in 25 minutes of action. The freshman also dished two assists and logged one steal.
Jared McCain capped off Duke's double-digit scoring with 11 points, while also adding three caroms and two assists.
Ryan Young contributed six points on 3-of-4 shooting, along with five rebounds, a team-high two blocks and an assist.
Sean Stewart tallied four points, five boards, a team-best three steals and a blocked shot, which led to an alley-oop slam by Stewart at the other end of the floor.

QUOTES

"I just thought it was a great team effort, really good response, to hold them to 33% [field goal shooting]. A bunch of different guys stepped up. I thought the bench gave good energy, good minutes. We're going to need more of that. And it was a good win." - head coach Jon Scheyer
"We had to come out with energy and effort, and I thought we did at the beginning of the game. We got a little complacent in the middle part of that first half, but it's huge for us when [Kyle Filipowski] and Mark [Mitchell] are attacking the offensive boards like that. It's huge for us. It's great for the bounce back." - freshman guard Jared McCain

UP NEXT

No. 9 Duke (17-5, 8-3 ACC) remains at home for its second game of a three-game homestand, returning to action on Saturday, Feb. 10. The Blue Devils battle Boston College (13-9, 4-7 ACC) at 2 p.m., broadcast on ESPN.

To stay up to date with Blue Devils men's basketball, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeMBB".

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