After loss to Miami, No. 8 Duke Blue Devils face another ACC surprise in Wake Forest
Smack in the middle of games against two ACC upstarts, league preseason favorite Duke needs answers quickly to stay near the top of the early season standings.
The Blue Devils (12-2, 2-1 ACC) tumbled six spots to No. 8 in Monday’s Associated Press Top 25 rankings after losing 76-74 to league-leading Miami at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday night.
Despite that upset, the Hurricanes (13-3, 5-0 ACC) did not crack the rankings, leaving Duke as the ACC’s lone representative in the top 25.
With that loss in mind, the Blue Devils are preparing to face another surprising ACC contender, Wake Forest (13-3, 3-2 ACC), on Wednesday night in Winston-Salem.
While Duke was picked as the overwhelming favorite to win the ACC back in October, Miami was picked No. 12 and Wake Forest No. 13 in a media poll.
Now, Duke faces the possibility of dropping back-to-back games to those teams before the calendar reaches the middle of January.
The Blue Devils had a three-point lead over Miami after a Paolo Banchero dunk with 45 seconds to play Saturday night. But baskets by Hurricanes guards Charlie Moore (with 33 seconds left) and Kameron McGusty (with 20 seconds to play) flipped the result.
Duke guard Jeremy Roach fouled Moore as he made his shot in the lane. Miami’s Jordan Miller rebounded Moore’s missed free throw and McGusty scored the game-winning basket.
That’s two mistakes – fouling and failing to rebound – the Blue Devils made that coach Mike Krzyzewski had implored them not to do during a timeout with 45 seconds left.
“We didn’t play well but they made us not play well,” Krzyzewski said Monday. “At the end of the game we were in a position where I feel we should have won if we make a stop.”
Duke’s defensive lapses were glaring against Miami since the Blue Devils had been such a solid defensive team all season. The COVID-19 outbreak that caused two games and a number of practices to be postponed between Christmas and New Year’s Day clearly set the Blue Devils back.
Their sluggishness showed on offense when they beat Georgia Tech, 69-57, last Tuesday night in their first game since Dec. 22. But, while Duke’s defense was strong that night, it lacked cohesion against Miami’s veteran guards.
The Hurricanes only turned the ball over five times and they tallied 52 points in the paint to account for 59% of their scoring. Duke’s 17 turnovers played a role in helping Miami’s offense. But the Hurricanes only scored eight fast-break points, meaning the bulk of their close-in shots were the result of finding gaps to drive to the basket in half-court sets where Duke usually thrives defensively.
“The lack of practice hurt our defense immensely,” Krzyzewski said. “We were playing more man-to-man than team man-to-man. A thing that goes when you do not practice or you are just starting the season is talk where you communicate. I know we didn’t have good talk. And then your movements are reactionary. They are not anticipatory.
“So that’s where we are at. We have to get back to where we were at. We can talk about Xs and Os all day. But the Xs and Os have to be drilled, practiced and played. We’ve got to get there.”
The Blue Devils have to get back there in a hurry because Wake Forest presents some similar challenges as Miami.
The Demon Deacons like to spread out defenses and drive to the basket, with 6-1 senior Daivien Williamson and 6-5 senior Alondes Williams as capable ball-handlers. A transfer from Oklahoma, Williams leads Wake Forest in scoring at 20.4 points per game.
“We try to spread you out, drive you, play off the bounce,” Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes said. “Drive. Kick. Swing. Get them moving. Not being stationary.”
That spelled trouble for Duke against Miami because, as Krzyzewski explained, their defensive communication isn’t as sharp as it was a month ago.
The Blue Devils need to tighten that up in practice because Wake Forest will try to exploit that Wednesday night at the Joel Coliseum.
This story was originally published January 10, 2022 at 4:40 PM.