They aren’t listening, comprehending, or executing.
Captain Jeremy Roach
was very blunt about it after the Blue Devils lost its second consecutive game on Saturday afternoon against Georgia Tech.
“We’ve just got to do what we talked about in practice. There’s no carryover,” Roach said after the 72-68 loss.
A team full of players that have at least a year of experience playing college basketball at Duke cannot translate the message during practice into a game setting?
It’s not a quality a Duke basketball team should have.
ALSO READ: Duke planning to ‘make some changes’ after latest loss
“We said we’re not going to give them any threes in transition, not give them any threes to [Miles] Kelly,” Roach continued about the team’s strategy heading into Atlanta after falling to Arkansas earlier in the week.
Georgia Tech would go 6-of-14 on 3-pointers in the first half (42.9-percent) and Miles Kelly would be 2-for-4 as the first four baskets for the Yellow Jackets were all triples, leading to Duke’s early 12-2 deficit.
The message from Jon Scheyer seemed clear to Jeremy Roach, so why wasn’t the plan executed?
Tyrese Proctor’s injury two minutes into the game cannot be used as an excuse for a team that looks like it bathed in all the attention it received in the offseason after retaining four starters from last season and bringing in a top ranked recruiting class.
It forgot that it takes a lot of hard work, dedication, and serious focus to win games with a target on its back — especially on the road.
ALSO READ: Jon Scheyer reveals extent of Tyrese Proctor injury
It’s no longer a warning sign in Durham, it’s a major red alert that this season could go haywire very quickly if Scheyer doesn’t grab the attention of his team and demand their focus every time they step on the floor.
It starts with the head coach, but it also falls on the leaders in the locker room, like Roach, to be the example for the rest of the players
Duke (5-3) has a lot of soul-searching to do this week before it takes the court again on Saturday afternoon (2:15 p.m. ET, The CW) against Charlotte (5-3).
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