Duke basketball not playing ‘winning basketball’ in critical stretch

The Duke basketball team is not playing ‘winning basketball’ early in the season. 

Friday night was the first setback for the Duke basketball program this season after its 78-73 loss to Arizona and head coach Jon Scheyer raised some concerns with how the Blue Devils played.

Duke had plenty of opportunities to take the lead late in the second half and try and seize control of the game but its offense failed to come through in the clutch.

I have to take some time to watch the film and think about our group, and I don’t know what went into that,” Scheyer said following the game of the lack of ball movement.

“I would hope it’s coming from the right place of wanting it so badly. But it’s not winning basketball. That’s the bottom line.”

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Tyrese Proctor was called for a turnover with 27.6 seconds remaining which essentially won the game for Arizona with its clutch free throw shooting.

“That’s not how we’re gonna win games and we have too good of players, we have too much firepower that we can have on the court, just to go one-on-one, and you’re just not gonna be able to do it against really good teams, and [Arizona] is a really good team,” Scheyer continued.

Only Kyle Filipowski and Jeremy Roach reached double figures with 25 and 17 points, respectively, as the team shot 34.8-percent from 3-point range and only got to the free throw line 12 times in the loss.

Duke basketball looking to quickly turn the page

It felt improbable that Duke had a chance to win the game given the statistics and how poorly the team played with only 14 assists on 28 made field goals and being out-rebounded, 45-33.

The Blue Devils were also only able to turn 17 turnovers from Arizona into 18 points.

“Too many wasted possessions, bad shots, turnovers. I thought not only do you not score, but it leads to early run outs for them,” Scheyer added.

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“So the swings, just starting the first half were so drastic, and it really started with our offense.”

Duke will have another massive challenge against Michigan State on Tuesday night in Chicago during the Champions Classic.