If hasn’t been easy for the Blue Devils since Zion Williamson went down 30 seconds into their game against Carolina with a knee injury. Duke has dropped two of the last three over the past week – including last night’s game against 20th ranked Virginia Tech. But through it all Coach K has shown no panic and has heaped nothing but praise on his players.
“I’m proud of my guys they’ve been on this amazing schedule and I think they’ve fought each game and they fought tonight…We’ve got to get back and get refreshed. That six-game stretch was going to be tough no matter what. Especially with four of the games being Saturday Tuesday away games, it’s just an unusual thing. And when you lose Zion (Williamson) right in the middle then it escalates. Overall my team has done an outstanding job, we will move forward now, we learned a lot. I’m proud of my team, they didn’t lose, Virginia Tech won, there is a big difference. Virginia Tech won a tough game, we fought them and they fought back, they were just a little bit more successful than we were. So, congratulations to them, they deserve it.”
K knows what he’s doing. There’s no question that with a full and healthy squad the Blue Devils are a Final Four caliber team, but only time will tell if this stretch is a little speed-bump on the road to their ultimate goal or a foundation damaging pot hole.
Duke will host Miami Saturday. Zion Williamson’s status for that game is unknown.
Game Notes:
- Freshman RJ Barrett recorded his 21st 20-point game to extend the ACC freshman record. He finished with 21 points, six rebounds, five assists and one turnover in 36 minutes.
- With 651 points, Barrett is just 43 points shy of tying the Duke freshman scoring record set by Marvin Bagley III (694) last season.
- Junior Marques Bolden scored a season-high 14 points off the bench. He was 4-of-5 from the field and a career-best 6-of-6 from the free throw line.
- Duke is now 7-3 against ranked teams this season.
- Duke is now 7-1 on the road this season. The Blue Devils were the last remaining undefeated road team.
