1. Vermont entered the game ranked 196th by Ken Pomeroy. Their one win was against Siena. They lost by 23 to Bryant, and 21 to Providence. Sunday's loss to Duke dropped them to 1-5 on the season.
2. Typically when a team nearly pulls a major upset (Duke was a 22 point favorite) there is some major discrepancy in either 3-point shooting or free throws. But it was actually Duke which won those categories. Instead, this was about a lesser team dominating at the rim. Vermont made 31 2s, and 21 of them came at the rim. They had the same number of dunks as Duke, more layups, and more tip-ins. Duke gave up that many 2s once all of last season (vs NC State). The help defense was nonexistent. Coach K stated that "we didn't talk because we didn't feel like we needed to. I don't think we respected them…"
3. Vermont's ball movement was exceptional. They had 21 assists (60% assist rate). The last time a Duke opponent had that many assists was in a loss to St. John's in January, 2011.
4. Rodney Hood capped off another 20+ point game by making one of two free throws with five seconds left, giving Duke the win. In six games since transferring from Mississippi State, Hood has scored at least 20 four times. He's clearly a fan of the new rules, as he has the 3rd best free throw rate in the ACC.
5. Duke won 91-90 in a 64 possession game. The 1.41 points per possession scored by Vermont is the most scored against Duke since possession based data became available in the late 1990s.
