Coach K: It's Been Tough to Get Vernon Carey Shots

Freshman had 17 against Pitt

Duke beat Pitt at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Tuesday, 79-67, on the strength of 26 points and 13 rebounds by Vernon Carey Jr.

“We won a heck of a game,” coach Mike Krzyzewski said afterward. “I thought both teams really played hard. Their kid (Au’diese) Toney really had an unbelievable game.”

Toney, who was averaging seven points a game, scored a career-high 27 against Duke and helped spur a Pitt rally that cut an 18-point Duke lead to three.

“They are very athletic, strong, and in that like 11 to four minute mark in the second half we looked like we were tired and we weren’t as aggressive,” Coach K said. “There’s a lot of game pressure on our kids, and then the last four minutes they were magnificent, which says a lot about the character of our guys. Vernon, we got him the ball and he responded, and he actually got 17 shots.”

Carey’s 17 shot attempts were his second highest total of the year, behind 18 on Nov. 21 against Cal. It’s only the second time in five games he had double-digit attempts.

“It’s been tough to get him shots,” Krzyzewski said, “but stuff that he’s been working on and we’ve been working on paid off in that week. The leadership of Tre (Jones), Jack (White) coming off and playing not only the second big but on the perimeter to give us, Cassius(Stanley) in foul trouble, their perimeter became more athletic, more physical. We haven’t had a lineup with Jack, Matt (Hurt), and Vernon in very much, but that lineup helped us in the first half. So just try to keep doing different things and using Tre as our leader and just really proud of my guys, I would hope that Jeff (Capel) is proud of his guys. It was a really good basketball game.”