College men’s basketball: Duke recovers from UNC loss.
College men’s basketball: Duke Jon Scheyer got more of the passion he needed from his ninth-ranked Duke team following an emotional rivalry loss, even though the Blue Devils didn’t play at their best in a 71-53 victory against Notre Dame on Wednesday night.
“I thought it was great to get a win without necessarily playing our best on offense,” said the second-year coach. The Blue Devils (17-5, 8-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) were coming off a 93-84 defeat to No. 3 North Carolina, which left Scheyer upset with his team’s failure to match the Tar Heels’ passion, such as diving for loose balls on the court.
“He just made it clear that it is not acceptable and is not the way we will play the rest of the season,” said freshman Caleb Foster, who scored 13 points.
Mark Mitchell added 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Blue Devils, who scored 17 straight points, including a layup, jumper, and three-pointer from Foster, to take a 20-5 lead. Notre Dame came no closer than eight points again (33-25 at halftime). Duke shot 43% overall, had its second consecutive poor outside shooting night (4 for 18), and missed ten free throws. However, the Blue Devils collected 16 offensive rebounds to gain a 21-2 advantage in second-chance points.
“We’re usually one of the best defensive rebounding teams … and I thought they hurt us there,” first-year coach Micah Shrewsberry stated. “They just beat us up on the glass at times.”
Markus Burton had 19 points for the Fighting Irish (7-16, 2-10), who went 8 1/2 minutes without a basket as Duke jumped out to a huge early lead and shot only 33.9% overall. Big Picture
Notre Dame: The Fighting Irish have not won since defeating Georgia Tech on January 9. Offense was once again an issue; the Fighting Irish entered ranked 305th nationally in KenPom’s adjusted offensive efficiency (99.1 points per 100 possessions), then missed 12 consecutive shots early and went another 5 1/2 minutes without a basket midway through the second half. Kyle Filipowski, a preseason Associated Press All-American, could not rebound well from the UNC loss, in which he was soundly outplayed in a marquee battle against Armando Bacot. The 7-footer sat early Wednesday with two first-half fouls, then picked up his third before making his first basket, finishing with eight points on 2-for-9 shooting and nine rebounds.
“We need him to be better, and he’s hard on himself and he wants to be better,” Scheyer said, adding: “We won the game by 19 points when he’s in there, but he’s only in there for half the game.” POKER FACE At one point, Scheyer knelt down to talk to a seated Filipowski on the bench after he had picked up his fourth foul, with Filipowski saying Scheyer was making sure he was “doing good mentally.” “I was trying not to overreact to nothing,” Filipowski said. “I didn’t, but sometimes my face can still show a different expression that I’m not really trying to show.”
UP NEXT Notre Dame: The Fighting Irish host Virginia Tech on Saturday. Duke: The Blue Devils host Boston College on Saturday to continue a three-game homestand.
