The Blue Devils may have rebounded with a win against St. John’s, 83-76, in their first home contest since last Saturday’s disappointing loss to Florida State, but head coach Mike Krzyzewski was certainly not pleased.
“I want to win by playing great basketball,” Krzyzewski said. “To me, it was a loss. I didn’t like today’s performance.”
To appreciate Krzyzewski’s sentiment requires more than a glimpse at the box score, but rather an understanding of Duke's inconsistent play. The first half began unceremoniously, with the Blue Devils coming up empty on its first few possessions to find itself in a trailing 4-1 against the Red Storm, who started five freshmen. This deficit was short lived, however, as the older, more experienced Blue Devils immediately came back and took the lead.
The rest of the first half would suggest a runaway performance by Duke. For a seven-minute stretch in the first half, the Blue Devils went on an impressive 20-3 run.
This run was characterized by three key elements, highlighted by Mason Plumlee’s impressive play. The 6-foot-10 center utilized his size advantage over two 6-foot-8 defenders, Moe Harkless and God’sgift Achiuwa, to grab rebounds and score in the paint. He ended the first half tantalizingly close to a double-double, recording 8 points and 12 rebounds.
The second was 3-point shooting. With the Red Storm switching to a zone defense minutes into the first half, the Blue Devils began to shift their focus to the perimeter, crisply passing the ball around the arc until somebody found an open look. For the duration of the half, this strategy worked well, with Duke going 6-of-11 from 3-point range and using the long ball to stretch its lead.
The third element was good defense. The Blue Devils did not allow St. John’s any open looks at the basket. Although the inexperienced Red Storm players were unorganized at times, Duke’s stifling defense still deserves credit for holding them to merely three points over that 7-minute span.
Consequently, the Blue Devils started the second half with a 16-point lead, 45-29, along with all of the momentum after junior Ryan Kelly tip-slammed home a missed shot at the buzzer to end the first period. Although the first few minutes would see Duke extend its lead to 22 points, the Blue Devils would lose focus shortly thereafter, thus accelerating Krzyzewski’s descent to displeasure.
“When you have the opportunity to knock somebody out, you have to knock them out,” Krzyzewski said.
The late second half was characterized by poor defense and questionable shot selection. Duke contrasted its great 3-point performance in the first period by going 1-of-8 in the second.
“In the second half, we weren’t as aggressive on the offensive end, and our defense was very poor,” Kelly said. “When you play defense like that, and they start getting good looks and knocking down shots, they get their confidence going.”
This allowed the fighting Red Storm to get back into the game. Starting with 12:13 left in the game, the Blue Devils began to see their lead diminish into single digits, spearheaded by a noteworthy effort from freshman Moe Harkless. Still, Duke would sporadically score, preventing St. John’s from overcoming that critical barrier to transform their comeback from a minor scare to a legitimate challenge until the final minutes of regulation.
With 3:08 remaining, the Red Storm found itself in a 13-point hole. Harkless would lead his team’s final push with a layup to cut the lead to 11, and one possession later, he hit a midrange jumper to pull his team within nine points. After one of Duke’s 16 turnovers, Harkless buried another jumper to reduce the deficit to seven with just over a minute to go. To complete his barrage of points, Harkless hit a critical 3-pointer with 37 seconds left. Suddenly, the Red Storm found itself only six points away from the Blue Devils.
Unfortunately, this effort proved to be too little too late. With such little time remaining and their inability to force turnovers, the Red Storm had to resort to fouling. The Blue Devils went 9-of-10 from the free throw line in the final three minutes of the game to secure the win. But based on the sentiment out of the locker room, it certainly was not a victory to be proud of.
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