Duke steamrolls Pitt behind Kyle Filipowski’s big night
Duke went from grinding out a road win over the weekend to recording its most-lopsided win over a power conference team this season.
The 11th-ranked Blue Devils blew out Pittsburgh 75-53 on Tuesday night at the Petersen Events Center.
Duke (12-3, 3-1 ACC) notched its seventh straight win and second ACC road win in four days, having won at Notre Dame 67-59 on Saturday night.
This one obviously wasn’t as close.
The Blue Devils never trailed. The lead was 10 less than eight minutes into the game and it never sunk below double-digits. Pitt never scored more than two straight points in the first half; Duke stacked up several mini-runs, and its 9-2 run to end the first half made it 48-23 at halftime.
Kyle Filipowski scored 17 of his game-high 26 points in the first half, making 7 of 8 shots and quickly putting behind him a seven-point game at Notre Dame over the weekend. He had a double-double with 10 rebounds and finished 11-for-12 from the field.
It shouldn’t have been a surprise to see Filipowski go off against Pitt; in two games against the Panthers last season, he had a combined 50 points on 16-for-24 shooting.
The only Blue Devil to join Filipowski in double-figure scoring was Jared McCain, with 12 points on 5-for-9 shooting.
This was another example of Duke’s offense hitting elite levels when the ball movement was crisp. Duke had 19 assists on 29 field goals (65.5%), marking the fifth time in this seven-game winning streak that Duke’s assist rate has been above 60%.
Duke outrebounded Pitt 42-26 and outscored Pitt 32-12 in the paint.
Pitt (10-6, 1-4) was led by Zack Austin’s 11 points, and freshman Carlton Carrington had 10 points. The Panthers’ leading scorer and one of the top scorers in the ACC, Blake Hinson, had nine points on 3-for-8 shooting.