The startling change in the Duke basketball season has been the team’s defensive plummet over the last month.
After beginning the year as a stout unit, opponents have scored at will against the Blue Devils and head coach Jon Scheyer knows it has to change in order for his program to reach its goals.
“It’s hard to feel very good when they shoot 56-percent from the field all game,” he said on Saturday afternoon following Duke’s victory over SMU.
“I thought there were some great sequences in the Louisville game in the second half, but you have to adjust. You have to move on. You have to have a different scouting report now. SMU is a different team, and they do different things.”
In its opening five games of the season against power conference competition (Texas, Kansas, Arkansas, Florida, and Michigan State), Duke allowed its opponents to shoot 37-percent from the field and 28-percent from 3-point range.
It never saw a team make more than 26 field goals or more than ten 3-pointers in a single game.
In its next five games against power conference foes (Texas Tech, Georgia Tech, Florida State, Louisville, and SMU) teams have shot 51.3-percent from the floor and 40.9-percent from beyond the arc. Each team has made at least 26 shots in those games and three squads made ten or more 3-pointers against the Blue Devils.
“It has been an issue, and I think it gives teams life when we’re careless with the ball and then they get to see the ball go in,” Scheyer added. “Those are easy baskets and that has been a little bit of an issue for us.”
Somehow Duke has been able to win all of those games with the exception of its matchup against the Red Raiders since its offense has remained as one of the best units in the country.
The Blue Devils still have an adjusted defensive efficiency that is No. 10 in the country, according to KenPom, but it’s very easy to see the warts on this team.
“I think there are some things for me, idealistically, how I would like us to play and want to play, but also things that I have to be honest with myself and with our guys in the areas we are not being as good,” Scheyer continued.
“I thought there were some great sequences. Dame [Sarr] in that first half man, his defense was loud. That was a heck of a segment. Maliq [Brown], obviously, with his activity. But collectively, it is not there at the moment. You can go through and say, all right, it’s this guy's responsibility, or this guy's responsibility, but ultimately, it's all of ours. We have to turn the page and get there. That is the biggest thing.”
Duke has shown the ability to be a team that has the talent to win the National Championship but unless it finds a way to defend like it did in the first month of the season, it could be a short postseason stay for the Blue Devils.