“Just grab the ball. Just grab the ball between your palms. Just catch it. Catch it and then protect it.”
Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski was blunt as he demonstrated proper rebounding technique to the on-looking members of the press—his team just needed to grab the ball.
But despite the simplicity of his advice, Duke did not execute the message during its second straight conference loss Saturday, as the team’s inability to corral rebounds resulted in the Blue Devils’ 95-91 setback against Notre Dame at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The Fighting Irish outrebounded the Blue Devils 38-33 and made the home squad pay by generating 18 second-chance points—14 more than Krzyzewski’s squad. By the end of the game, the rebounds and second-chance opportunities—together with a 50-26 edge in points in the paint in favor of Notre Dame—proved lethal for Duke in just its second home loss since the 2012-13 season.
“We executed on offense, but defensively we just didn’t execute,” freshman guard Luke Kennard said. “We didn’t keep the ball out of the paint, [and] we didn’t rebound very well. So defensively, we just have to pick it up. They definitely outrebounded us quite a bit tonight and that’s what won them the game. Second-chance points really hurt us tonight.”
Duke's inability to secure loose balls proved especially costly at the end of the game.
Following a missed 3-pointer by junior Matt Jones with 22 seconds remaining, graduate student Marshall Plumlee was poised to grab a rebound and give his team a second chance on the offensive end. But the ball slipped through the center’s hands, bounced off his shoulder and escaped his teammates’ reach. Duke was forced to foul and instead of a two-point deficit, two Fighting Irish free throws put the Blue Devils down four with 13 seconds left.
On the next possession, Plumlee slammed home a rebound off of a missed layup by freshman Brandon Ingram, but the rebounding woes continued on the other end of the floor. After a foul that sent Notre Dame guard Demetrius Jackson to the line with a 93-91 lead, the junior's attempt on the front end of the one-and-one hit the front of the rim.
But instead of grabbing the carrom, the Blue Devils watched the game slip out of their hands.
Fighting Irish forward Zach Auguste snagged the offensive rebound and after a foul, went back to the line to ice the game for Notre Dame with one second remaining.
“Some of those balls were right in our hands,” Krzyzewski said. “It’s very frustrating for our guys. I know it’s frustrating for us to see that and not close that possession, but that’s the story of the game really.”
The biggest rebounding problem for Duke was the tandem of Auguste and 6-foot-5 forward Bonzie Colson down low. The duo snagged 12 of Fighting Irish's 16 offensive rebounds, with the smaller Colson grabbing eight on his own.
Without senior Amile Jefferson in the lineup, the Blue Devils struggled to contain Colson all afternoon. For much of the first half, Ingram was forced to guard the Notre Dame forward on the block, but when faced with a series of post-ups, the Duke freshman got into foul trouble for the second straight game, picking up his fourth foul with 17:14 remaining.
Plumlee could not shut down Colson after relieving Ingram either. The Fighting Irish sophomore slipped outside on the less agile Duke center and drained jump shots that led to his team-high 31 points.
“[Colson] can be a matchup problem when he’s at the five because he can shoot, and they really get spread out with him,” Krzyzewski said. “He’s played well, and he’s a good player, but he had a terrific game today. He hit a couple long shots…they hit some long shots at the end of shot clocks that were huge.”
The Blue Devils will not have long to dwell on its defensive struggles before returning to the hardwood Monday at home against a Syracuse team that dispatched Wake Forest by 28 points on the road Saturday for its first ACC win.
But Duke has been in this position before. Last season, the squad dropped consecutive conference matchups against N.C. State and Miami in January before rebounding with a 63-52 win at then-No. 6 Louisville. With a different team, it is up to the veterans to remind the rest of the squad how to put the loss behind them and move forward against the Orange.
“Obviously, we have a totally different team,” Jones said. “But as a veteran guy, I’ve been in this situation before. We just have to make sure the younger guys know that we can’t just sulk on it. No matter how mad we are about this game, we have a very good Syracuse team on Monday. We just have to keep pushing and anything can happen.”
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