‘It was unacceptable.’ Cassius Stanley calls out Duke’s play in stunning loss at Clemson.
Winning came so easy for No. 3 Duke lately the Blue Devils just figured that would continue to be true.
Clemson sent a rude message to them on Tuesday night, a 79-72 ACC loss for a confident team that had won four of its first five ACC games by double-digits.
“Our kids have to understand how hard it is to win,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski told the media after the game. “When you are in our conference, all these teams are hungry. Sometimes when you win a lot, you are not as much as the other team. I thought that’s how the game started.”
Duke (15-2, 5-1 ACC) found its footing to take a three-point lead in the second half, but a flurry of missed free throws and strong play inside by Clemson’s Aamir Simms (25 points) and Tevin Mack (22) halted Duke’s nine-game winning streak.
The Blue Devils lacked the proper hunger to win on the road in ACC play Tuesday night, but they also learned how much they hate the feeling that accompanies such a loss.
Freshman guard Cassius Stanley was particularly blunt in his assessment, not only of the team but his play in particular.
“We were making soft plays, soft passes, all of us,” he told the media after the game. “It was unacceptable. We can’t do it again.”
Turnovers cause problems for Duke
Duke’s 15 turnovers led to the fewest points it has scored in a game since beating Kansas 68-66 in the season-opening game back on Nov. 5. The Blue Devils entered the night averaging 84.6 points per game in ACC play, 83.8 overall.
Seven of the eight Blue Devils who played committed at least one turnover.
That said, freshman Matthew Hurt’s play — on both ends of the court — was alarming.
The 6-9 forward was credited with two turnovers in the game’s first four minutes. He finished the game with as many points (two) as his turnover total.
Though Duke’s depth was lacking because injured guards Wendell Moore (broken hand) and Joey Baker (sprained foot) were unavailable, Hurt played just 15 minutes and 28 seconds.
With Clemson up 40-33 at halftime, Krzyzewski had senior forward Javin DeLaurier replace Hurt in the second half’s starting lineup. Hurt played only five minutes and 22 seconds after halftime.
“He didn’t play well,” Krzyzewski said when asked about Hurt. “Look, we didn’t lose because of one guy. We lose together. But the guys who are playing well are going to play. You’ve got to be able to defend.”
Cassius Stanley in foul trouble
Duke’s problems with turnovers caused it to score just .99 points per possession even though it shot 50 percent and made 40 percent of its 3-pointers. The Blue Devils entered the game No. 2 in the country averaging 1.154 points per possession.
But Clemson shot 56.6 percent against Duke’s usually sturdy defense. Simms, a 6-9, 240-pound junior forward, hit 10 of 15 shots to score his 25 points. He also grabbed nine rebounds.
Mack, a 6-6 senior forward, also had nine rebounds while making 10 of 14 shots as the Tigers were much stronger and effective inside.
“We knew coming into the game that the four and the five were the positions we had to defend,” Krzyzewski said. “Our last game (Wake Forest on Saturday night) we didn’t do a good job at the four and the five. And we didn’t do a good job tonight. Simms and Mack were terrific. It’s a different offense to defend, but Simms was spectacular tonight.”
Stanley’s ability to help on defense was stunted because of foul trouble. He was whistled for two first-half fouls and then picked up his third foul with 18:47 to play and his fourth just one minute and 50 seconds later.
Stanley left the game for nearly seven minutes before returning. He played the rest of the game without fouling and, despite scoring 14 points, admitted he wasn’t as effective as he wished.
“Honestly I feel like me getting four fouls was the whole reason we lost the game,” Stanley said. “I take responsibility for that. I could have done some different things. It was tough to play with that. It was tough to watch on the bench.”
It was a tough night for Duke overall.
The depth the Blue Devils have used to their advantage this season was thinned by injuries to Moore and Baker.
After senior forward Jack White’s basket with 4:19 left cut Clemson’s lead to 65-64, the Tigers outscored Duke 14-8 the rest of the game. Duke only scored on four of its final 10 possessions.
The Blue Devils believe they only have themselves to blame for coming up short.
“I think it just comes down to us, really,” Duke sophomore guard Tre Jones said. “It’s nothing that they did, really. They didn’t do anything special. They weren’t different than any other team (and) they weren’t better than any other teams that we’ve beat. It was on us and we didn’t come to play.”
This story was originally published January 14, 2020 at 11:17 PM.