Rare consecutive losses leave No. 3 Blue Devils wondering what hit them
Heavyweight battles are nothing new to Duke’s Tre Jones now that he’s been the Blue Devils’ starting point guard for a season and a half.
His scoreless first half on Saturday night, though, left him stunned as if he’d never been in such a battle like the one Louisville presented in an early season ACC showdown.
“It was a physical game. The refs were letting us play,” Jones said. “Nothing wrong with that. It was just, we took too long to adjust to it. For myself, being the leader of this team, I let my team down in the first half. That comes down to me.”
The Blue Devils eventually adjusted, manning up to rally from 15 points down and force two second-half ties. But Duke never led after the team’s first three minutes, fading in the final three minutes to suffer a 79-73 ACC loss at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Five nights earlier, the Blue Devils lamented their lack of energy and hunger in what became a 79-72 ACC loss at Clemson.
After falling behind 25-10 over the first 10 minutes against Louisville and trailing 42-32 at halftime, Duke (15-3, 5-2 ACC) showed plenty of hunger and fight to forge ties at 58 and 63.
But Louisville (15-3, 6-1 ACC) never let the Blue Devils have a chance to regain the lead.
After those two ties, the Cardinals scored immediately on their next possession.
Lamarr Kimble hit a driving shot and drew a foul from Matthew Hurt before adding a free throw with 8:33 left for a 61-58 Cardinals lead
After a Jones 3-pointer with 6:29 left knotted the game again, Kimble’s 3-pointer 28 seconds later gave the Cardinals the lead for good.
Jordan Goldwire’s steal and layup left Duke down 71-70 with 3:27 to play.
But Dwayne Sutton needed only 26 seconds to draw a foul under the basket from Duke’s Jack White. Sutton’s two free throws put the Cardinals up 73-70.
From there, the Blue Devils strung together five consecutive empty possessions, leaving them empty handed despite their own stellar defense in keeping the Cardinals from scoring.
With 2:47 left, Cassius Stanley missed a shot in the lane.
With 1:42 left, Jones drove into the lane and missed a contested shot.
Jones’ 3-point attempt to tie the game with 50 seconds left fell short. So did Stanley’s rushed 3-pointer with 17 seconds to play.
Malik Williams’ two free throws with 16 seconds left were the game’s first points in nearly three minutes and put the Cardinals up 75-70.
When Jones lost the ball at midcourt for a turnover, the Blue Devils were condemned to suffer their second loss in as many games this week.
The misfires on offense, part of a 37 percent shooting day, were the final blows in a subpar offensive effort for Duke. But, as Jones and his teammates were quick to say, their struggles in the game’s first 10 minutes left them in too big a hole to make a comeback win probable.
“That was probably the game right there when it comes down to it was them coming out and getting on us early,” Jones said. “We were able to fight back and tie the game down the stretch. But they continued to make plays to pull out the win. We just learned that we’ve got to come out and set the tone physically at the start of the game rather than letting the other team do that.”
Duke did a great job defensively on Jordan Nwora. The preseason ACC player of the year, averaging 20.4 points, finished with six on three of 12 shooting.
But freshman David Johnson tallied 19 points, hitting 8 of 12 shots while also collecting seven assists in what Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski called a “terrific” effort.
The Cardinals shot 48.3 percent, producing 1.03 points per possession in the game. Clemson scored 1.08 points per possession in beating Duke. Stephen F. Austin, which shocked the Blue Devils 85-83 in overtime back on Nov. 26, scored 1.01 points per possession.
Those are the only three teams to produce a point per possession against Duke this season. The Blue Devils are No. 9 nationally, allowing 0.868 points per possession. But they are trending in the wrong direction, not only both ends of the court but in physical play and attitude.
This is two games in a row a more experienced team pushed the Blue Devils around early. Both times the Blue Devils got off the deck but weren’t able to secure a win.
The plan now, Krzyzewski said, is for this week’s experiences to spur his team to stronger play as the season progresses. He still thinks this team is capable of winning a lot more games. But, for now, it wasn’t able to fight its way past older bigger teams.
“We just have to get older,” Krzyzewski said. “I’m really up on my team. It’s a long journey. I’ve never told you that we’re great. It’s a process for us, playing these two teams. Getting beat, we have to learn from it and move on. It’s a long journey.”