In the aftermath of Wednesday’s loss to Maryland that snapped Duke’s 15-game win streak, players sat hunched in front of their lockers speaking softly as reporters asked the very questions that they were trying to answer themselves.
How do you rally the team after a loss like this?
“I’m trying to figure that out right now,” J.J. Redick said.
The No. 2 Blue Devils (15-1, 5-1 in the ACC) will get a chance to answer that question Sunday at 8 p.m. against ACC newcomer Virginia Tech in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Though picked to finish last in the conference in the preseason media poll, the Hokies (10-6, 3-2) currently sit fourth in the standings after a shocking win on powerhouse Georgia Tech’s home court Jan. 22.
After its upset loss to Maryland, Duke recognizes that it cannot afford to look past Virginia Tech, even though the game against the Hokies is followed by a brutal seven-day stretch in which the Blue Devils will play No. 5 Wake Forest and No. 22 Georgia Tech on the road and No. 3 North Carolina at home.
“We’re not even thinking about Virginia Tech right now,” guard Sean Dockery said Wednesday night. “We’re thinking about our team. There are some things we have to work on, as far as being mature. [Thursday] we were supposed to have the day off, but now we’ve got practice.”
Players’ sentiments about renewing their dedication aside, the team’s reaction to the loss should be interesting for Blue Devil fans. The players are not used to responding to a defeat; Daniel Ewing, the team’s lone senior contributor and co-captain, has only played 13 games following a loss in his Duke career.
Ewing and the Blue Devils have only lost back-to-back games twice in the guard’s three-plus seasons and have never lost consecutive home games, and co-captain Redick’s non-response to the question of how he will rally the team after the loss was telling. Though Duke adjusted well to the leadership void created by former captain Chris Duhon’s graduation, winning its first 15 games, the leaders have not had to pick up the team after a loss so far.
After the Maryland game, Terrapin coach Gary Williams spoke about his players’ ability to recover on their own from Maryland’s home loss to N.C. State just days before.
“That was all about the players,” Williams said. “After the N.C. State game, without me saying much, the players just took it upon themselves to come in here and give a great effort. We had to get it from somewhere that we could come down here and beat these guys, and that’s got to come from the players, it doesn’t come from the coach.”
Blue Devil players will be attempting to rally against a team that has proven itself to be more talented and successful than most predicted at the start of the season.
Guard/forward Carlos Dixon—whose 21 points against Georgia Tech included the game-winning score with 36.8 seconds to play—leads the Virginia Tech attack, averaging 14.8 points per game. At 6-foot-8, his size and ability to shoot from three-point range could cause the same matchup problems the Blue Devils had against Maryland’s 6-foot-7 Nik Caner-Medley, who torched several different Duke defenders for 25 points.
Guard Zabian Dowdell ranks second on the team with 14.6 points per game, and forward Coleman Collins and guard Jamon Gordon have each registered more than 10 points and five rebounds per contest.
Despite its four players averaging in double figures, Virginia Tech has the lowest scoring offense in the ACC with just 70.4 points per game.
Though the Hokies are only giving up 65.2 points per game, they have allowed several players to have big games against them. The team let N.C. State’s Julius Hodge score 27, Florida State’s Von Wafer net 21, Mississippi State’s Lawrence Roberts put in 25 and in just 25 minutes allowed North Carolina’s Sean May to dump 17. They have also been out-rebounded by an average of 4.8 boards per game; their 32.4 rebounds per contest are the fewest in the ACC.
“Our role is simple: Each and every day, we’re going to work to get better—win, lose or draw,” Virginia Tech head coach Seth Greenberg said of his team at ACC Media Day. “We might lose three in a row, but we’re going to come back that fourth day.... It’s not bad being in the underdog role—we have something to prove. Everyone’s expecting us to fail, let’s prove them wrong.”
If the Hokies can shock the world again Sunday and prevent Duke from recovering from its first loss as it heads into the most difficult part of its season, the results could have a disastrous impact on the Blue Devils.
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