Duke’s Silent Assassin Comes Up Big Against Virginia Tech

[richard levy]

Duke’s Silent Assassin Comes Up Big Against Virginia Tech

The No. 4-ranked Duke Blue Devils improved to 20-1 overall and 9-0 in conference play after a 72-58 victory over Virginia Tech (16-7, 5-5 ACC) on Saturday. The

www.si.com

Maliq Brown Puts On a Show Against Virginia Tech
Duke senior forward Maliq Brown will seldom make eyes pop in the stat sheet, but he's the definition of a player who makes winning plays. Brown might have the best hands in college basketball and very well could be the best defender the nation has to offer.

Against Virginia Tech, Brown put together one of his best outings in a Blue Devil uniform. The 6' 9" forward tallied 11 points on 5-of-10 (50%) shooting from the field and 1-of-4 (25%) shooting from the perimeter. This ties his career high with Duke and marks the first time he has taken double-digit shots in a game for the Blue Devils.
Most of the time, Brown's contributions won't show up in the stat sheet. He's averaging just 5.1 points and 4.6 rebounds per game on the season, but he makes the little plays that win games.

Deflections, rebounds, and the ability to switch onto every position on the floor defensively. Those aspects of Brown's game make him one of the most valuable players Scheyer has at his disposal.

 

[Cstate]

The amount of Duke fans on FB and Instagram whenever there is a Maliq post that comment he is their favorite player on the entire team is very telling. They love the fact he just goes about his business and does whatever is asked of him.

 

[MikeSU02]

Maliq Brown Puts On a Show Against Virginia Tech​

Duke senior forward Maliq Brown will seldom make eyes pop in the stat sheet, but he's the definition of a player who makes winning plays. Brown might have the best hands in college basketball and very well could be the best defender the nation has to offer.

Against Virginia Tech, Brown put together one of his best outings in a Blue Devil uniform. The 6' 9" forward tallied 11 points on 5-of-10 (50%) shooting from the field and 1-of-4 (25%) shooting from the perimeter. This ties his career high with Duke and marks the first time he has taken double-digit shots in a game for the Blue Devils.
Most of the time, Brown's contributions won't show up in the stat sheet. He's averaging just 5.1 points and 4.6 rebounds per game on the season, but he makes the little plays that win games.

Deflections, rebounds, and the ability to switch onto every position on the floor defensively. Those aspects of Brown's game make him one of the most valuable players Scheyer has at his disposal.

People here said he was a bad defender.

And his contributions do show up on a stat sheet, you just have to look at more than PPG to see that.

It's nice he's being recognized as DPOY watch list still (along with William Kyle, also kudos to him) and he's getting to play on a team that has a shot at a title.

Maliq is a winning player. Always has been. That is why Duke recruited him.

 

[Col. Bleep]

Always liked Maliq.
But he put up two three-point shots down the stretch against UNC.
Fortunately for him, Cam Boozer rebounded one of them for a layup.
The other one missed and the ball went back to UNC.
He had no business taking either.

 

[NineOneSeven]

Absolute shame he transferred out, and there of all schools.

He was on pace to be one of my favorite players ever. And I was perhaps the first person on the Maliq train when he was a freshman getting limited minutes.

 

[RF2044]

People here said he was a bad defender.

And his contributions do show up on a stat sheet, you just have to look at more than PPG to see that.

It's nice he's being recognized as DPOY watch list still (along with William Kyle, also kudos to him) and he's getting to play on a team that has a shot at a title.

Maliq is a winning player. Always has been. That is why Duke recruited him.

He's a unicorn, in terms of versatility.

That's why I don't think many recognized the value he brought to the table, getting stuck on PPG.

Which, for the record, had he stayed here, woudl have vaulted into double digits last year.

 

[Orangezoo]

He's a unicorn, in terms of versatility.

That's why I don't think many recognized the value he brought to the table, getting stuck on PPG.

Which, for the record, had he stayed here, woudl have vaulted into double digits last year.

Unfortunately- given we have such a versatile winning type of player in Kyle this year, the coaching wouldn’t have been able to maximize the impact Brown brings here.

 

[kuethstheman]

People here said he was a bad defender.

Honestly! I trust your memory more than I trust mine, but that's incredible! I know he wasn't the rim protector we needed but he was a great on-ball defender!

 

[sufandu]

I remember the primary complaints about defense were that big physical guys pushed him around. That was accurate. The main problem was that we didn't have the personnel to allow him to be what he should have been and what he is at Duke. He is the perfect glue guy.

 

[Irt4su]

very happy for him, unhappy for us and myself though

 

[sutomcat]

Glad Malik found a great second program. He was a warrior when he was here.

 

[shu 49]

People here said he was a bad defender.

And his contributions do show up on a stat sheet, you just have to look at more than PPG to see that.

It's nice he's being recognized as DPOY watch list still (along with William Kyle, also kudos to him) and he's getting to play on a team that has a shot at a title.

Maliq is a winning player. Always has been. That is why Duke recruited him.

They don’t know anything. He was easily our best defender and honestly the most Pace like guy on our team since he left. Smart as hell, great defender, good offensively, and solid rebounder.. broke my heart when he left but I get why.

 

[MadNY3]

I remember the primary complaints about defense were that big physical guys pushed him around. That was accurate. The main problem was that we didn't have the personnel to allow him to be what he should have been and what he is at Duke. He is the perfect glue guy.

We had him playing the five a decent amount and he's now two years older.

He's perfect at Duke and definitely could have co-existed with Donnie. Sigh.