Court Vision: No. 4 Duke suffers second straight defeat to Miami
DURHAM, N.C. -- No. 4 Duke (14-2, 2-2) did not just have its 41-game winning streak in Cameron Indoor Stadium snapped -- it was broken in half and splintered by a final score of 90-74 by Miami (12-4, 2-1). Duke hasn't lost consecutive regular-season games since 2009, which is an absurd stat in its own right, and a big reason why head coach Mike Krzyzewski is one of the best in the game and just a few away from 1,000 wins.
He reached 997 on January 7 against Wake Forest as his team got out to 14-0, and it seemed like the game at Louisville this Saturday would be for 1,000. But the loss at N.C. State meant it would be delayed until at least Monday the 19th (at home against Pittsburgh), and now this loss means it's delayed once again. With consecutive trips to St. John's, Notre Dame and Virginia looming in that stretch, getting to 1,000 wins will be the last thing on his mind anyway.
1. Duke's lack of confidence is evident right now in everything its doing
It's a young team, yes, but these are some of the best freshmen in the country accustomed to playing on big stages. And this Duke team was rolling at the beginning of the year, even getting a win against a fully healthy Wisconsin team on the road. The freshmen were clutch, the upperclassmen were leading the way and everything seemed fine.
Until it didn't.
Dec. 15 against Elon was the first time it seemed like something might be amiss with the Blue Devils. They had a sloppy ending, and Krzyzewski talked about the need to push his team to avoid human nature.
Duke would go on to win a tough one against Connecticut, and struggle at times with Toledo and Wofford but ultimately beat both convincingly. A close win at Wake Forest included Duke trailing for the first time this season, but they overcame.
Suddenly at N.C. State and even at home against Miami, Duke couldn't hit shots. The freshmen weren't as assertive, even Jahlil Okafor who had seemed like an unstoppable machine.
On the road, those types of things can happen. No big deal, right? Duke always bounces back at home. Duke hasn't followed up a loss with a loss at home since 2007, and has beaten many of the opponents it's faced in those bounce-back games by double digits.
Miami hung around and hung around, and shots that seem to roll in the basket as if by divine intervention at Cameron rolled off the side of the rim instead.
Bad body language -- slumped shoulders, frustrated faces -- made it obvious that Duke wasn't shooting anywhere confidently. And Duke is now a combined 13-of-48 from three in the last two games, not to mention 10-of-20 at the foul line -- AT HOME -- against Miami.
"We got a little tight. Missed free throws, myself included," Duke senior captain Amile Jefferson said. "We shot horribly from the free-throw line. We have to get better. Good teams make free throws."
Jefferson capitalized on Miami's strategy of doubling Okafor enough to confuse him, and finished with 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting. Okafor got his too, although he was just 6-of-13 shooting.
Without the bigs, though, Duke just didn't shoot well. It's not just the freshmen who lack confidence -- it's everyone, to a degree. Senior point guard Quinn Cook has averaged 19 points in the last two games and shot pretty well, but junior Rasheed Sulaimon was 5-of-14 against Miami while freshman point guard Tyus Jones is shooting 22.2 percent in the last four games.
"I don't think we're confident right now. I'm not saying we have no confidence, but we don't look confident when we shoot it," Krzyzewski said.
"I just don't -- I don't see it. I don't feel it. That happens. It can happen with a baseball team in hitting or whatever. And I think it can happen with a younger group more than an older group where that doesn't impact other things. If it happened with a veteran group, then they're going to play harder defensively or rebound, execute. They know we're not scoring, we'd better do something else. That's all part of learning."
Krzyzewski is right that this is a young group and has plenty to learn. Not a bad time to take some early lumps, certainly. But the way that the team can't seem to generate any of their own confidence is a bit jarring, to say the least, particularly after the hot start Duke had.
As great as Krzyzewski is, even he's stumped right now.
"We'll see. There's always things to do. The first thing is for all of us to accept full responsibility for what we're doing. Coaching staff, players -- we're all responsible for it," Krzyzewski said.
"And then you try to figure it out. I don't know that answer right now. But I love my team. I believe in my team. I'm disappointed with how we've played in conference. We're going to try to do all that we can to change that."
2. The Blue Devils will figure out the offense. The defense thing has to be a priority.
"Our defense has been nonexistent for two games," Krzyzewski said.
And that's true, as both N.C. State and Miami have gotten out to nearly 20-point leads in the second half and three guards over the last two games have put up 20 points on the Blue Devils (two from Miami and one from N.C. State).
Yes, Duke has faced off against consecutive teams with talented guards who can either shoot the basketball (in the case of N.C. State's Ralston Turner and Trevor Lacey) or both drive AND shoot the basketball (in the case of Miami's Manu Lecomte and Angel Rodriguez). Yes, Duke often gets an opponent's so-called best shot.
N.C. State's guards hit some contested shots, and so if you're Duke, you can more or less tip your hat (and that's what Duke did after the game).
But Miami shot 51.8 percent for the game and a blistering 66.7 percent in the second half, getting anything they wanted around the rim (12-of-18 from two and 6-of-9 from three).
"On defense we have to be stronger, more together. We have to talk more on defense. They hit a lot of big shots. They're a really good team and they came in here prepared," Jefferson said. "Teams are going to shoot their best percentage, they're going to play their best ball and they're going to work together because they're playing Duke. We've got to be ready for that."
The ball screen defense, in particular, for Duke was troubling. Seemingly, Duke had no one that could effectively stay in front of Rodriguez or Manu Lecomte, who finished with a career-high 23 points.
"Our goal was to set at least one, if not two or three or four ball screens on every possession because our guards are best when they're on the attack," Miami head coach Jim Larranaga said. "The ball screen gives them a chance to get free just a little bit and then attack the big. Manu's very good at it. Angel's very good at it. Ja'Quan Newton is very good at it. So we had some success with that and we just tried to keep that going throughout the game."
That was an understatement.
Cook could only sigh and shake his head when asked about Duke's inability to stop opposing guards and keep them out of the lane.
"I don't know. Y'all see it," Cook said, gesturing. "Y'all see it, like us. I don't know. People are hitting shots, getting in the lane and doing whatever, and we're not playing with a sense of urgency.
"We've played against great guards -- (Wisconsin's) Traevon Jackson, (UConn's) Ryan Boatright -- we've played against great guards. We're just struggling right now, but we're going to figure it out."
Some of that lack of confidence on the offensive end is feeding into the defense, too. When Duke is missing shots, opponents are getting long rebounds and starting a fast break. Miami finished with 13 points in transition.
"We gave them runouts. We've been giving more runouts. I think part of that is missing shots. It only takes a fraction of a second and you're watching and a shot's missed. If you think about that missed shot, you're not thinking about getting back," Krzyzewski said. "I thought we did that a few times. You give people runouts or dunks and (they) get a level of confidence."
3. Miami might have had a bit of a slump after a hot start, but make no mistake about it -- the Hurricanes are legit.
As Rodriguez and Larranaga fielded questions from the media, perhaps the funniest -- and most appropriate -- was "how in the world did you lose to Eastern Kentucky?"
Miami started out the year 8-0 with wins over Florida (on the road) and Illinois. But from Dec. 6-22, it lost three of four, including a nearly 30-point loss at home to Eastern Kentucky (who is Ken Pom's No. 71 team, by the way, but still).
Rodriguez grinned knowingly when asked, though.
"I think it was a humbling experience with so many new guys on the team, sometimes it could be hard to handle success. Early in the season, we had a lot of success, and we made the top 15," Rodriguez said.
"Ever since then, the intensity was not there on defense, the attention to detail wasn't there. Every day, no matter who you play, you've got to come to play because if not, you see what happens. You lose to Eastern Kentucky. But it was a humbling experience and thanks to that, we're getting better and better and better. We're reacting the way I expected us to react."
Miami is now 2-1 in the ACC with the only loss coming in double overtime at home to Virginia, which is now the No. 2 team in the country.
Miami has a ton of good guards who vary between athletic and talented (or both, in some cases), and the Hurricanes have just enough size that they can compete with other teams with traditional bigs.
And the Hurricanes offer a somewhat similar prisoner's dilemma that teams face when defending Okafor.
"Our guys ... what they're good at is dribbling and shooting. So if you go behind that ball screen, they can hit a 3," Larranaga said. "If you fight over the ball screen, then they have a chance to attack the big man. They did that and got fouled. And once they get a sense that they can do it, then they share that confidence.
"Angel did it and then I told Angel 'you go to the corner and let Manu do it for awhile'. It leaves out some of the other guys until the defense adjusts, and then you throw a lob to Sheldon (McClellan) or you hit Omar (Sherman) for a three. You've got to have some balance and tonight, we did."
That's how dominant Miami's guards were -- they basically had to take turns using ball screens, like as if they were children taking turns with a favorite toy. That toy, in this case, being Duke's defense. And make no mistake -- Duke's defense isn't the first plaything, nor will it be the last.
Good guard play can get you a long way in basketball, and Miami has excellent guard play. Don't count out the Hurricanes just because of some non-conference losses. Well, you can, but do it at your own peril.
21 points off of 15 turnovers -- That's what Miami did to Duke, often just straight up taking the ball out of the hands of a Duke player (usually a guard) on one end and running to the other end for a transition basket.
42 -- Duke has been whistled for 42 fouls in the last two games, a relatively high number for the Blue Devils. While most of its fouls at N.C. State were off the ball (N.C. State only shot 16 foul shots), it put Miami on the line 30 times (Miami made 30). Duke, on the other hand, was just 10-of-20 from the foul line. At home.
