As overreactions pour in for the Duke basketball team following its loss to Kentucky in the Champions Classic, head coach Jon Scheyer has never felt better about his team.
"We've got a long season to go. I feel more optimistic tonight losing than I did even before," he told reporters after the 77-72 defeat.
"You find out in this game the character of your team, the heart that they have, and this team's got a lot of heart. They kept coming at us, making shots, and we had an answer."
Duke led 46-37 at halftime but could not find any of that offensive rhythm in the second half, being limited to just 26 points. However, the Blue Devils still held its lead with less than three minutes to go before an Otega Oweh layup with 2:40 remaining. It was the first time Kentucky led in the game since it was 24-23 with 8:47 left before halftime.
Cooper Flagg would give Duke the lead back with a old fashioned 3-point play but Andrew Carr, a Wake Forest transfer, would match Flagg's sequence on the next possession.
The Blue Devils never led after that basket but had a chance to take the lead with 26.5 left before a Flagg turnover. It was the first of two turnovers the top ranked freshman committed in the final seconds.
"For us, we're going to grow and learn from this," Scheyer continued. "I promise you that. We've got a locker room full of guys that are disappointed, heart broken. I'm with them. And we're going to get better.”
No. 6 Duke returns home to play Wofford on Saturday afternoon (12:00 p.m. ET, ACC Network) but then continues its daunting non-conference schedule with a road matchup against No. 9 Arizona and a meeting with No. 1 Kansas in Las Vegas before No. 5 Auburn comes to Durham for the ACC vs. SEC Challenge the following week.