Duke basketball’s losses hurt now. Why Coach K says they’ll help the Blue Devils later.
Duke did not make the plays it needed to win its two ACC games last week, losing to Clemson and Louisville.
The Blue Devils hadn’t dropped consecutive games since February 2018 and the last time it lost consecutive games in ACC play was a year earlier in February 2017.
Duke’s last three-game losing streak? That came in January 2016 when Clemson, Notre Dame and Syracuse beat the Blue Devils in consecutive games.
So Duke is unaccustomed to losing like this. Frankly, having seen both Clemson and Louisville make the better plays in the final, crucial six minutes of last week’s games, the Blue Devils aren’t accustomed to losing in this manner.
It’s Hall of Fame coach isn’t fretting, though, he said on Monday’s ACC coaches teleconference in response to a question from The News & Observer. These losses, while far from fun, are part of a team learning how to be its best.
“When you have freshmen,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said, “they haven’t been in those type of games. So how you see things are affected by the level, the magnitude of the game. It’s a learned experience. That’s why veteran teams, especially during this time of the year and through the whole year, do even better in those situations because they’ve been in them more. The best teacher is experience.”
When that experience comes from losing, it’s far less fun. But that’s where the No. 8-ranked Blue Devils are entering at home ACC game with Miami on Tuesday (9 p.m., ESPN).
Tre Jones learns from playing
Duke (15-3, 5-2 ACC) sophomore point guard Tre Jones gained plenty of big-game experience last season, leading the Blue Devils to a 32-6 record and an ACC championship.
He also felt the sorrow of a 68-67 NCAA tournament loss to Michigan State on March 31 that left Duke a win short of the Final Four.
This season, he’s leading a team that has freshmen among three of its top four scorers.
In the critical, late-game junctures against Clemson and Louisville, Jones couldn’t get Duke over the top.
He scored two points in the final six minutes against the Tigers on Jan. 14 as Duke, after leading 62-61 with six minutes to play, lost 79-72. Jones missed three of his four shots in the final six minutes.
Against Louisville on Jan. 18, after the Blue Devils cut the Cardinals lead to 71-70 with 3:27 remaining on a steal and layup from junior guard Jordan Goldwire, Jones went scoreless from that point with two missed shots and a turnover as the Cardinals won 79-73.
That’s not to say both losses fall squarely on Jones’ shoulders. Freshmen Vernon Carey, Cassius Stanley and Matthew Hurt, who all join Jones as Blue Devils averaging double-figures in scoring this season, also left Duke wanting more.
Against Clemson, Hurt played so poorly defensively he played just five minutes in the entire second half and was a non-factor late.
While not scoring himself, Jones made plays to get up his teammates to score, particularly against Clemson.
Twice during that final stretch against the Tigers, he drove the lane and, when the defense collapsed on him, he found open shooters. Senior forward Jack White and freshman forward Carey missed open 3-pointers.
Against Louisville, the Blue Devils endured five consecutive possessions without a point after trailing 73-70.
Stanley missed a shot after a drive to the basket off a screen with 2:47 left and left a 3-pointer short in transition with 17 seconds left.
Jones drove to his left with 1:42 to play and missed a shot before also misfiring on a long 3-pointer with 50 seconds to play.
‘On-the-job training’ for Duke
Unlike Duke’s 85-83 overtime loss to Stephen F. Austin team back on Nov. 26, Krzyzewski said the Blue Devils made plays he felt made them worthy of winning against Clemson and, especially, Louisville.
They simply just didn’t get it done.
“I just think you learn from being in that level of game,” Krzyzewski said Monday. “Louisville is as good s team as we’ve played and they played at a high level. So just through that whole experience being in those 40 minutes and competing and those ebbs and flows. At the end of the game, could you make a different decision? You show your guys. What did they see and what did they do? They did everything in a winning way. It didn’t turn out in a winning way. Was there something else that could have been seen at that point?”
That last teaching point is something the Blue Devils need to absorb and improve upon as the season progresses.
For instance, on the late possession against Louisville that resulted in Jones’ missed 3-pointer, the 6-9, 214-pound Hurt found himself guarded in the paint by Louisville’s 6-foot guard Lamarr Kimble. Hurt couldn’t get posted up in a strong position and Stanley didn’t even look his way when he had the ball on the wing. An opportunity was missed.
Later, Duke was in transition trailing by three points when Stanley took a pass beyond the 3-point line. A driving lane was available as only one Louisville player was in a defending position. That player had to choose between stopping Stanley or covering Hurt at the 3-point line.
Instead of driving and dishing to Hurt or taking the route to the basket, Stanley pulled up and missed a long 3-pointer with 17 seconds left.
If Stanley had hit the 3-pointer, he would have saved his team. But, on a day when he finished 1 of 7 from behind the arc, he missed.
Duke hopes all of these lessons are learned and better outcomes are ahead.
“When I was in the Army, we had a thing -- On-the-job training,” Krzyzewski said. “You learn more by doing the job with your success and failures. So as you become a veteran you eliminate the failures. You have to go through those things.”
Miami at Duke
When: 9 p.m., Tuesday
Where: Cameron Indoor Stadium, Durham
Watch: ESPN
This story was originally published January 20, 2020 at 3:12 PM.