No. 7 Duke's struggles continue vs. Louisville
It's January and preseason national title favorite Duke looks susceptible to bowing out of the NCAA tournament early if the season were to end today.
Thankfully for the Blue Devils (14-4), March Madness is a ways away. But they're already playing themselves out of the competitive ACC title race. Following a 78-69 loss to Louisville on Saturday — Duke's second consecutive ACC loss to fall to 2-3 in league play — the team's trajectory is clearly heading in the wrong direction. Amile Jefferson's absence was felt in the loss to the Cardinals (allowing 36 points in the lane), as it was in Wednesday's 16-point loss to Florida State.
The senior big man's presence in the paint and leadership served as a lightning rod for the team in the first half of the season, and now we're seeing freshman Harry Giles forced to step into a larger role when it appears he's not quite ready — evidenced by his poor ball screen defense and seven points (1-for-4 free throws) in the Louisville loss.
Grayson Allen got smacked in the face while tangled up with Louisville player
Mahmoud, Mitchell lead U of L past Duke
Louisville's crowd constantly booed and taunted star Grayson Allen (23 points, nine rebounds, five assists and five turnovers) as a result of his one-game suspension for a series of tripping incidents and has continued to dominate national headlines since his return. That story line has seemed to overshadow the bigger picture of the Blue Devils' struggles. Allen's been decent when he's playing point guard, but the team still looks out of sync offensively with no true floor general. That's not to mention a measly three points off the bench vs. Louisville.
As coach Mike Krzyzewski recovers from lower back surgery, Duke is 1-2 under associate head coach Jeff Capel. Florida State has surged into one of the best teams in the country, but Louisville is an offensively challenged team that favored an offensively gifted Duke team. A costly 18 turnovers sunk Duke on Saturday, which the Cardinals surely capitalized on while riding the efforts of 7-footer Anas Mahmoud (17 points, 11 rebounds) and guard Donovan Mitchell (15 points).
Home games against Miami (Jan. 21) and N.C. State (Jan. 23) should help, but the team's January woes have illustrated how much work this team has to do to get close to living up to expectations. Coach K will likely be inheriting a team with somewhat of an identity crisis when he returns. Or at least that's the case now.
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