There were more negatives than positives for the Duke basketball team in its most recent loss.
The hopes and dreams of the Duke basketball team might have been thrown out the window in its loss to North Carolina on Saturday night.
Duke, who already had very little room for error, could not afford to drop a home game to a fellow struggling team in the Tar Heels and still hope to get an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament, but alas.
However, there were more negatives than positives for the Blue Devils in the most recent loss, aside from their offensive burst against Roy Williams’ squad.
Coming off a terrible loss against Miami (FL), Duke needed to show energy and passion for a full 40 minutes, and that only showed through the television in spurts during its rivalry matchup.
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Maybe it was because there were no fans, but Duke-Carolina never felt like true Duke-Carolina.
Yes, social media was still buzzing with chatter and trash talk from the fanbases of both teams, but the atmosphere in the arena just wasn’t the same. And perhaps that’s why it didn’t feel like the rivalry everyone grew accustomed to.
However, the action on the court was certainly tremendous, if you didn’t have true care as to who emerged as victorious.
Duke basketball still with a lot of work to do
After victories over Georgia Tech and Clemson, it looked like the Blue Devils were turning a corner.
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That all changed with the loss to Miami, and while the Hurricanes getting the home victory might have been a result of Duke not being mentally locked in, the loss to North Carolina proved that there is still a lot of work to be done for this squad.
So with all that being said, let’s start with some positives in this edition of ‘Stock Up’.
Duke basketball players who improved their stock against North Carolina
Henry Coleman
Prior to the North Carolina game, four-star freshman Henry Coleman had played a total of 22 minutes for the Blue Devils. The power forward logged a career-high 12 minutes against the Heels.
As for the aforementioned bursts of energy Duke showed, all seemed to come with Henry Coleman on the floor as he was able to match the size and physicality of the talented Tar Heel forwards.
Coleman ended the game with four points, two rebounds, two assists, and a block on 2-of-2 shooting while only recording one personal foul.
The only negative from the freshman was that he was 0-for-2 from the free throw line.
Duke needs to see more of Henry Coleman and the physicality he brings to the court going forward. That has been lacking from the Blue Devils for the majority of the season.
Jeremy Roach
The spotty play of Jeremy Roach continues as Saturday was a positive for the freshman point guard.
Roach was reinserted in the starting lineup and saw 27 minutes of action, resulting in 16 points, five assists, and three steals on 7-of-14 shooting from the floor and 2-of-6 from three-point range.
Perhaps he took the matchup with Caleb Love personally, or the game plan that was put into effect was perfect for the freshman guard, but he thrived in his first meeting against the Tar Heels offensively.
It’s been said before, and it’ll be said again: Jeremy Roach has to be aggressive and get downhill to be at his peak effectiveness for the Blue Devils to be successful. It’s a major piece of trying to fix what is wrong with Duke.
DJ Steward
DJ Steward is in somewhat of the same boat as freshman counterpart Jeremy Roach.
Steward needs to be more aggressive but in a different sense.
When the freshman shooting guard catches the ball on the wing, he needs to let it fly instead of shot-faking, taking two dribbles, and passing.
That’s what he showed against North Carolina.
He was looking for his shot, knocking down one three-point ball, which then allowed him to shot-fake, take midrange jumpers, and drive to the basket.
Steward finished with 11 points, two rebounds, two assists, one steal, and one block on 5-of-10 shooting from the field.
Duke needs shooting, and the Chicago native has to be looking to provide his as his freshman year quickly comes to a close.
Aspects of the Duke basketball team that hurt its stock against North Carolina
Defense
The Duke defense has been an issue all season long, and it seems as if it’s getting worse.
Mike Krzyzewski tried to implement a 2-3 zone against Miami that didn’t work because of how putrid the man-to-man defense was. While he didn’t try that on Saturday night, shooters were wide open for North Carolina.
And maybe that was the plan. The Blue Devils would let the Tar Heels beat them from deep because North Carolina entered Cameron Indoor Stadium as a poor shooting team, but Duke got burned on the inside and from the outside.
Each starter reached double-figures.
North Carolina shot 53.1-percent from the field and 10-of-15 from three-point range.
Its starters only missed one shot from beyond the arc, and three of the team’s five misses from downtown were by one player, RJ Davis.
Garrison Brooks, Armando Bacot, and Day’Ron Sharpe combined for 39 points and 21 rebounds.
Duke could not get a stop if its season depended on it, literally.
If the Blue Devil defense does not improve, it won’t be long before the NCAA Tournament hopes are officially crushed.
Turnovers
The Blue Devils were a turnover machine against a suspect North Carolina defense.
For as bad as the Duke defense was, its turnovers lost the game because 15 Duke turnovers resulted in 30 Tar Heel points.
Unacceptable.
Duke never valued the ball as the only two players who did not register a turnover were Matthew Hurt and Henry Coleman.
Six of the 10 players who saw the floor for the Blue Devils committed multiple turnovers as DJ Steward led the way three giveaways.
Duke has enough problems scoring and stopping teams from scoring as it is. Easy transition baskets off careless turnovers are no recipe for success for the Blue Devils.
Matthew Hurt
Matthew Hurt is the lone player who makes the ‘Stock Down’ column as he continued his struggles against North Carolina.
Hurt did not score in the two meetings against the Tar Heels in his freshman season and was scoreless in the first half as a sophomore.
The Rochester, Minnesota native just isn’t a good matchup with the big, physical Tar Heel forwards, and it results in foul trouble, which ultimately disqualified the sophomore once he was able to get things going in the second half.
Matthew Hurt finished with seven points and three rebounds on 3-of-6 shooting in just 21 minutes. He did not play in the final 4:15 as the score was tied at 77, after he made a baseline jumper, upon his exit.
Hurt remains one of Duke’s best players, but too often his defensive issues are resulting in foul trouble, which lands him on the bench in the most important moments of the game.