GREENSBORO, N.C.—On Duke’s first possession of the game, Ryan Kelly—the Blue Devils’ most efficient 3-point shooter—got an open look from beyond the arc and launched. Clank.
On Duke’s final possession of the game, sophomore wing Alex Murphy hoisted an attempt from distance, his first shot of the game. Air ball.
And it wasn’t much different in between for the second-seeded Blue Devils, who shot 4-of-25 on 3-point attempts in an 83-74 loss to seventh-seeded Maryland in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals.
Duke entered play making 41.6 percent of its 3-pointers, the fourth-best clip in the nation. The Terrapins finished 8-for-20 from 3-point range, an improvement on their season percentage of 33.1, the fourth-worst clip in the ACC.
“It’s a hell of a thing,” said Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski about the teams’ 3-point shooting. “It’s a phenomenon, you witnessed an amazing thing. I just wish we were the thing that was amazing.”
Kelly entered play making 53.1 percent of his long-distance attempts and finished the game 0-for-6 from beyond the arc. The senior forward also spent much of the game’s final minutes on the bench as he was unable to effectively defend against Maryland’s small lineup that was featuring four guards at many points.
“Obviously the ball wasn’t going in, but we have to keep shooting them,” Kelly said. “That’s our offense. The biggest thing is it can’t affect our defense, and there’s no question that it did.”
Curry was the only Blue Devil to hit multiple 3-pointers—going 2-of-7—and finished with 15 points, all of which came in the second half.
The Terrapins never trailed in the contest, scoring the first five points of the game, beginning with a 3-pointer from Jake Layman after Kelly’s first miss.
Duke went on to miss its first seven 3-pointers of the game until Tyler Thornton—who started for the second consecutive game—made one with 2:40 remaining in the first half. That was the team’s lone make on 10 attempts in the first period as it went into the break trailing 34-26.
Thornton finished by connecting on 1-of-5 3-point attempts, including two misses on open looks within a 23-second span with around two minutes left in the game.
Rasheed Sulaimon, who began the game on the bench in place of Thornton, missed both of his shots from deep. The freshman guard, however, was the only Blue Devil to develop any offensive rhythm in the first half, scoring 12 points before halftime and 16 by the game’s final buzzer.
“He did a good job,” Krzyzewski said. “It’s not about one guy.”
Neither Thornton nor Sulaimon, however, could find a way to stop Maryland swingman Dez Wells, who continued his stretch of strong play with a career-high 30 points on 9-of-13 shooting, including 2-of-2 shooting from 3-point range and 10-of-10 free throws.
Although Duke trailed the entire game, it was able to bring the game within one in the second half after a Mason Plumlee free throw with 13:02 left. Plumlee, who led the Blue Devils with 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting, then appeared to tie up the game on the next possession, but the basket was whistled back after a charge was called on the senior forward.
The Terrapins opened up a 12-point lead after that call, though, Duke narrowed it to six points with 2:34 left. But on the next possession, Thornton put up the first of his two consecutive misses from beyond the arc, allowing Maryland bring the lead back to double-digits and close out the game.
“We got a lot of good looks, but our offense wasn’t sharp from the start,” Curry said.
The strongest part of Duke’s play was its ball-handling, turning the ball over just six times. That and eight offensive rebounds—one more than the Terrapins collected—allowed the Blue Devils to take 65 field goals, compared to Maryland’s 51.
And even though Duke was able to hit 23-of-40 shots from inside the arc, its 3-point struggles proved too much to overcome.
“Good shooters don’t think about their last shot,” said Duke point guard Quinn Cook, who finished 1-of-4 from distance. “You have some days where you can’t miss, and you have some days where you can’t hit. You’ve still got to find ways to get points.”
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