The mood in Duke’s locker room following a 77-76 victory over Belmont could be characterized by one word—relief.
For head coach Mike Krzyzewski, his 901st victory was defined not by the near-upset, but rather by the maturity his team gained via a close call early in the season.
“I’m really proud of our guys, because once the game pressure was on us we grew up a lot tonight,” Krzyzewski said. “You can’t practice a situation like that. Good teams put you in those situations and Belmont is a really good basketball team.”
The No. 6 Blue Devils claimed an imposing 16-point lead with 14:19 left in the second half following a 12-point run spurred by the outside shooting of Seth Curry, Austin Rivers and Tyler Thornton. But an experienced Bruin squad responded with its own run of 3-point shooting, and within seven minutes cut the Duke lead down to two.
While the Blue Devils stretched the lead back to eight with under four minutes remaining, the unexpected pressure in the season’s opening game led to sloppy play, allowing Belmont to remain in the game throughout the final minutes. Duke allowed three offensive rebounds, including two off missed free throws, in a span of 50 seconds that cut an eight-point lead to four. Three Blue Devil turnovers later, Belmont was down a single point.
“Second shots for threes and the second shots in the last few minutes off of free throws—if we had lost the game, that would’ve been the reason,” Krzyzewski said.
The adversity brought about by those self-inflicted wounds, though, allowed three players to step up into the limelight. Andre Dawkins hit a deep three with twenty seconds remaining to give Duke a two-possession lead, and Thornton and Ryan Kelly each hit clutch free throws to secure the victory.
“Thornton was great, with his two free throws and exuberant play,” Krzyzewski said. “Andre’s shot was obviously a big-time shot and it was pure. And Ryan going up there and hitting the two free throws is just huge.”
Rivers, meanwhile, showed flashes of his explosive offensive ability, but struggled with his consistency as he adjusted to the pace of the college game.
The freshman was aggressive early, attacking the basket and earning his way to the free throw stripe four times in the first half. That aggression came with a price, as Rivers turned the ball over three times and had no assists in the opening half.
The second half was a different story, with Rivers shooting only two free throws after tempering his attack. He finished with 16 points, tied with Curry for the team lead, but did so on 3-for-9 shooting.
“That’s one thing I have to keep learning,” Rivers said of his consistency. “That’s my first game as a college basketball player, to take and move forward with. I have to keep being aggressive. And it’s not just to score…. When you’ve got shooters like Tyler, [Andre] and Seth, I have to keep being aggressive to get my team some threes.”
Krzyzewski was happy with Rivers’ debut, especially his defensive effort against the Bruins’ quick guards, but recognized that he has to learn how to read college defenses once he penetrates the lane.
“The thing he has to react to, he’s not accustomed when he drives to kick,” Krzyzewski said. “Against a converging defense like this, that was his biggest mistake tonight... but I thought he played well.”
It certainly was not a perfect performance for Rivers and the Duke team. But weathering the storm of an upset-minded Belmont squad early in the season seems to have jump-started the Blue Devils’ maturation.
And for Krzyzewski, that was the most important result of the game, and not the relief of victory.
“The only way to get mature is to play,” Krzyzewski said. “We had to be very good tonight to win, and we’ll be a lot better after tonight.”
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.