Duke vs. Ohio State: Coach K Will Turn Meltdown into Learning Experience

The Ohio State Buckeyes played a perfect game in defeating the Duke Blue Devils.

Coach Mike Krzyzewski could only laugh when talking about it afterwards.

This young Blue Devils team went down early and never got back up.

Ohio State superstar Jared Sullinger was dominant, and the rest of his teammates followed suit. Four starting Buckeyes finished with more than 17 points, and the No. 2 team in the land held Duke to an abysmal 20 percent shooting from three-point range.

The Blue Devils, whose usually efficient half-court offense infuriates defenses, saw freshman Austin Rivers and junior Mason Plumlee combine for more than half of the team's points.

That won't get it done.

The Blue Devils were equally bad defensively, as the Buckeyes shot the lights out, going 59.3 percent from the field and 57 percent from beyond the arc.

Ohio State moved the ball better and out-rebounded a tired Duke team that was playing its third consecutive ranked opponent in eight days.

There will certainly be much stronger sentiment for Ohio State as the top team in the land after this beatdown, but the real question is how Duke will respond.

The Blue Devils' leading scorer is a freshman amid four starting juniors.

Ironically enough, it was the freshman who didn't shy away from the bright lights of the big-game atmosphere. The Buckeyes defense did a great job of not letting him finish near the rim, though, and he ended the game 8-of-18 from the field.

Coach K will have to make adjustments on both ends of the court to stop this from happening again this season. Duke cut the lead to 18-17 with 9:50 to go before Ohio State blew things open and closed the first half, up 19 points.

Duke won't see another team like Ohio State for quite some time.

In fact, the only other ranked opponent currently on its schedule is rival North Carolina. That first game isn't scheduled until February 8th.

Between now and then, expect Coach K's Blue Devils to roll. He'll take this loss, flip it upside down and give this team something to learn from for the next few months.

When they take the floor at Chapel Hill, this game will be a distant memory. But don't be surprised if this loss is considered the turning point of this season.