Duke’s vaunted defense sprung a leak, and Clemson pounced. How will Blue Devils respond?
As he had planned when he built this Duke basketball team, Jon Scheyer believed these Blue Devils possessed defense that wouldn’t fail in the big moments.
Until Saturday night, that had been the case.
The Blue Devils saw Clemson carve them up like no one else, getting in the lane time and time again for high-percentage shots that led to the Tigers upsetting No. 2 Duke, 77-71, at Littlejohn Coliseum.
No team had shot 50% or better against Duke this season. Yet the Tigers hit 68.2% of their first-half shots and finished at 55.8% in the game.
Only six teams have made better than 50% of their shots inside the 3-point line in a game against Duke this season. Clemson topped them all by making 63.4% of their 2-point attempts.
“The whole game, we just couldn’t seem to get a stop.,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said, with a sense of bewilderment because his team had allowed teams to hit only 37.7% of their shots this season. One of the nation’s top teams in defensive efficiency, the Blue Devils have only allowed .896 points per possession.
If Duke was going to lose again this season, it sure didn’t seem like it would be because of defensive lapses. But that’s exactly what happened, so the 16-game winning streak the Blue Devils pieced together since November is gone.
While Duke (20-3, 12-1 ACC) still leads the ACC by a game over Clemson (19-5, 11-2 ACC), that’s not the measuring stick the Blue Devils wish to use. This loss, this defensive display far below they standards they had established, reminded them of how much better they’ll need to be next month when the postseason arrives.
“This is what March is,” Scheyer said as he was wrapping up his postgame comments.
The lockdown defense Duke had played all season is why it appeared ready for March, with that magical month still three weeks away. Clemson introduced doubt into the equation.
“They hit a few tough mid-range shots in the first half that, you know, we could live with at the end of the day,” Duke guard Tyrese Proctor said. “But I thought they got in that paint too much.”
That is evident because 40 of Clemson’s 77 points were scored inside. Tigers guards found driving lanes. Their big men finished chances and, when they didn’t, more often than not grabbed offensive rebounds. That’s why Duke lost the rebounding battle by an alarming 36-23 with Clemson finishing with 11 offensive rebounds.
“We weren’t really there tonight,” Duke freshman forward Cooper Flagg said. “We didn’t do our jobs. So it’s hard to win the battle if you’re not boxing out, rebounding, giving up a ton of second chance opportunities.”
So now what do the Blue Devils do, with their cloak of invincibility punctured? Proctor has no doubt the team will turn this loss into lessons to regain their edge.
“We’ve got such a good locker room,” he said, “and everyone’s going to be just looking at themselves in the mirror.”
That level of togetherness is a big reason why Duke is such a stout defensive team. Playing well-connected basketball is a must to win titles.
Scheyer is ready to reinforce some aspects of Duke’s play that clearly slipped while losing at Clemson yet again. The feeling of having the court rushed by celebrating Tigers fans will certainly help the Blue Devils listen to the forthcoming lessons.
“This loss, it hurts,” Scheyer said, “Because I think this group is on the verge of doing something special. There wasn’t one ounce of us that didn’t think we were winning this game. I just told them afterwards, this game has got to mean something. I’ve had different championship caliber teams where you have a game like this, where you’re right there, and if we get one stop and win, you’re not going to be able to have the same feeling that you would have if you lose.”
This story was originally published February 9, 2025 at 9:43 AM.