Duke’s reputation has centered around its offense for much of this season, and with an adjusted offensive efficiency inside the top 10 of KenPom’s rankings, that makes sense.
However, the Blue Devils have struggled to put a full game together over the last two weeks. Their three starting guards are shooting 29% from distance over the last two games, and they’ve failed to crack 70 points in back-to-back games for the first time all season.
Enter Duke’s defense to the rescue.
The Blue Devils have risen up to 22nd in KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency, and the first-round victory over the Catamounts might have been their best game yet.
Vermont only scored 47 points against Duke in the first round, and the Catamounts only mustered 18 points in the second half. There was a 10-minute stretch in the middle of the first half when Vermont only scored six points, and Duke didn’t allow any points in the final 4:43 of the game.
Vermont finished the game shooting 38.5% from the floor and 25% from beyond the 3-point line, and only two players scored more than five points.
No, the Catamounts were not one of the best offenses in the tournament. However, they still averaged more than 72 points per game this season. The 18-point second half was Duke’s best defensive performance of the season.
No defense will ever be measured by how it performs against a No. 13 seed, especially a team with five national championships to its name. If the Blue Devils want to make a run to the Elite Eight or even the Final Four, they’ll need to keep this form against some great teams ahead.
However, the defense gives them more of a margin for error if the offense has a bad half, and that margin for error is how a team strings together a tournament run.