On Wednesday night, Duke basketball showed some resiliency, but it was too little, too late.
Jon Scheyer’s second Duke basketball team suffered its second loss of the year on Wednesday night, its first away from home. In the first-ever ACC/SEC Challenge, the No. 7 Blue Devils (5-2, 0-0 ACC) defeated the unranked Razorbacks (5-3, 0-0 SEC) 80-75 at the court-filled Bud Walton Arena in Arkansas.
Following the game, Scheyer gave the following opening remarks to the media:
“To start with, congratulations to Arkansas. They performed admirably in the game. We were aware that they would be extremely hungry and eager to play this game. They suffered a couple of close defeats. Let’s face it, we think highly of their skill, coaching, and abilities. We knew that game would be extremely tough, even with [Arkansas starting point guard and top scorer Tramon Mark] sidelined.
“Having said that, it is disappointing to lose because we were expecting to win.
“The second half’s opening was crucial. We simply gave up a tonne of layups when we came out. We experimented with our defence a little bit, playing man and zone. When [Kyle Filipowski] was substituted in the first half due to early foul trouble, it bought us some time. We feel pretty good, so we’re thinking, down one at a time…
“With some of those stops and some of those rebounds, you need a collective toughness that wasn’t present.
“And give them credit. Their style of defence is distinct, which can cause some confusion.It forces you to write plays as a result. Nor did we produce enough of them.
“Look, at the end, I thought we showed a lot of heart [in trying to climb back from a 14-point deficit with under seven minutes to play]. I know I have a locker room full of guys that are competitors, winners. A lot of teams would have been run out of the gym at that point…
“I think that’s a credit to our guys with what they have inside of them. We just have to do that all the time.”
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