Duke Basketball: How Worried Should Blue Devils Be About Notre Dame Loss?
It’s easy to overreact to any regular-season loss in the long college basketball campaign, but some defeats just feel more important than others.
The Duke basketball squad experienced one of those costly defeats Wednesday night at Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish overcame a 10-point deficit to win 77-73, which dropped the Blue Devils’ record to 3-3 in their past six contests.
It’s panic time in Durham, right?
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It may be too early to completely panic, but there is legitimate reason for concern after Wednesday’s loss. After all, superstar Jahlil Okafor torched Notre Dame for 22 points and 17 rebounds, four of the five Duke starters finished in double figures and the team connected on 43.8 percent of its three-pointers on the way to 73 points.
Even with all of that, Duke still managed to lose a game in which it held a double-digit lead.
The defense never had a chance against Jerian Grant, who went off for 23 points, 12 assists, six rebounds, three steals and two blocks and finished 9-of-15 from the field. Grant’s incredible individual performance brought back flashes of last year’s lackluster Blue Devils defensewhen the guards couldn’t stay in front of opposing ball-handlers down the stretch of the season.
Duke was No. 53 in Ken Pomeroy’s pace-adjusted defensive-efficiency rankings this year as of Wednesday evening, and the improvement that is so desperately needed from a season ago is yet to consistently come.
Tyus Jones, Quinn Cook and even Matt Jones were all exposed by Grant and the Notre Dame guards Wednesday, and Rob Dauster of NBC Sports noted that there was some uninspiring defense on a critical three-pointer in the final minute:
Duke fans would be forgiven if they questioned why Justise Winslow wasn’t on Grant during the second half.
Outside of the defense, the Blue Devils treated free throws as anything but free opportunities during Wednesday’s loss. In fact, they finished 10-of-20 from the charity stripe, including Okafor’s 2-of-7 effort.
Coach Mike Krzyzewski discussed Okafor’s issue from the free-throw line, according to The Associated Press, via ESPN.com "Jah had a heck of a game. If he hit those free throws, then we'd be talking about Jah having the amazing game, not Grant. But Jah had a great game."
The good news for Duke is that it was shooting better than 70 percent as a team from the line before Wednesday’s loss, so it may have only been an anomaly.
The Blue Devils' biggest reason for concern goes beyond the free-throw shooting, defense or even the single loss to Notre Dame. Rather, it is the ACC standings, and Duke is behind Virginia, Notre Dame, North Carolina, Louisville and Syracuse and tied with Miami after Wednesday.
Jeff Eisenberg of Yahoo Sports and Laura Keeley of the Raleigh News & Observer discussed the unfortunate position Krzyzewski’s squad is in when it comes to the conference standings:
Granted, a win in Virginia would go a long way toward changing the complexion of the league, but that is a tall order that no team has been able to accomplish this season.
This is not to say there aren’t plenty of reasons for optimism as well for the Blue Devils. After all, they already have two road wins over top-10 opponents this season, against Louisville and Wisconsin, and Okafor scored in double figures for the 20th straight game during Wednesday’s loss. Okafor also finished with at least 20 points and 10 rebounds for the third time this season.
Duke is also No. 6 in Pomeroy’s offensive rankings and has the talent to outscore opponents on any given night.
Plus, Notre Dame may just be that good.
After all, the Fighting Irish are 6-1 at home against top-10 teams since 2010 and check in at No. 2 in the nation in Pomeroy’s offensive rankings. There is no shame in losing to Notre Dame this season, especially in South Bend.
Of course Duke should be at least somewhat worried because the chances of the No. 1 seed in the ACC tournament are notably small, and we haven’t even hit February yet. We also saw some of the same defensive problems that haunted the Blue Devils last season rear their ugly head in a critical ACC contest Wednesday night.
It would be irresponsible for Duke not to be concerned moving forward because there are a number of areas that need improvement before March. The only way to improve is with recognition of what the team needs to work on in the coming weeks, and Krzyzewski is certainly aware of these focus areas.
However, concern in January is not a death warrant for a basketball team. The Blue Devils will have the best player on the floor in virtually every game they play the rest of the season, and the offense is one of the best in the country.
Duke could still win the national title on the back of the talent on the roster alone, and a midseason loss to Notre Dame isn’t going to change that fact. The only way that is going to happen, though, is with better defense than we saw Wednesday night.
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