The largest crowd ever served as witness at the Bud Walton arena as the Arkanas Razorbacks defeated the 7th ranked Blue Devils 80-75 in the first ACC/SEC Challenge.
After 16 lead changes and eight ties the Razorbacks went to halftime with just a one point advantage, but a 19-7 run at the 13:12 mark of the 2nd half put Duke in a 14 point hole. The Blue Devils were able to cut the lead to four with 46 seconds remaining, but it was too little too late.
“We knew it’d be an incredibly difficult game. With that said, we expected to win so the loss is disappointing,” head coach Jon Scheyer said during his postgame press conference. “The beginning of the second half was key and we came out and just gave up a bunch of layups. We mixed up our defense a little bit and played some zone, played some man. It bought us some time with [Kyle Filipowski] being out, so down one at half we feel pretty good. And then we get [Filipowski] back, but it wasn’t the collective toughness that you have to have on the road, with some of those stops and some of those rebounds.”
“At the end, I thought we showed a lot of heart. I know I have a locker room full of guys that are competitors and winners. A lot of people would have been run out of the gym at that point. I don’t know exactly what it was, 10, 11, with a couple minutes to go and you’re two free throws away. All you have to do is get one stop and you’ve got a chance there at the end.”
It’s a quick turnaround for the Blue Devils as they travel to Atlanta for their first conference matchup against Georgia Tech.
Notes:
- Kyle Filipowski logged his second consecutive double-double of the season, pouring in a game-high 26 points, including 23 after intermission, while reeling in 10 total rebounds.
- Jeremy Roach scored 22 points on 7-of-13 shooting, his fourth game this season with at least 10 points and the 53rd time in his Duke career. The Blue Devils are now 40-13 when the senior reaches double-figures.
- Jared McCain also finished with double-digit rebounds, tallying 10 total boards.
- Tyrese Proctor extended his career-best streak of games with at least one three-pointer to 12 consecutive.
- TJ Power played a career-high 13 minutes, scoring six points on a perfect 2-for-2 from beyond the arc.