Beyond the Arc: Duke vs Kansas

In a back-and-forth game between two extremely talented teams led by star freshmen, it was Kansas who ultimately did enough to eke out a win over Duke. Neither team had a lead bigger than five points until the very end when Duke’s foul trouble resulted in the Jayhawks pulling away down the stretch to claim a victory.

Revisiting the three keys to the game:

• Duke Must Exploit Its Advantage Before Kansas Does The Same: Both teams exploited their respective advantages—the Blue Devils’ guard play was led by Parker, Sulaimon and Hood while the Jayhawks dominated inside the paint both offensively and defensively. Ultimately, it came down to which team exploited its advantage better, and in this game it was Kansas.

• A Collective Effort On The Glass: The Blue Devils lack of size was ruthlessly laid bare by a bigger and stronger Kansas team. They were out rebounded 39-24 and while Jabari Parker was able to grab nine rebounds, no other Duke player managed more than four boards.

• Continue to Share the Ball: To put it simply, Duke did not play collectively as a team. There were far too many instances when one player tried to do it all and while there were a few notable instances where this worked, it more often than not resulted in a turnover or missed shot. This was exemplified by Duke’s paltry assist total of 12.

• 5:08, second half: Jabari shifted from one side to the other and nailed a jumper to give Duke the lead after having trailed for the good part of the previous five minutes.

Three key stats:

• Duke shoots 57.1 percent from the free-throw line: The Blue Devils were terrible at converting free throws in this game. For a team that was already lacking in size, it needed a strong free throw performance to negate the lack of offensive rebounds, but instead Duke could not convert, especially in the second half. Kansas had 27 points from free throw with, shooting 77.1 percent, and those points eventually propelled them to the win.

• Foul trouble: Duke did not seem to have understood the new rules in effect this season as time and again it committed hand-check fouls inside the paint, sending the Jayhawks’ to the line. More importantly, the Blue Devils had three players with four fouls each with six minutes still to play, severely hampering their ability to play strong defense. Thornton and Parker did ultimately foul out.

• Duke outrebounded 39-24: While it was known that Duke’s weakness would be rebounding, no one expected it to be so ruthlessly exploited. Kansas just did not allow Duke to find any rebounding space or rhythm and took away any Blue Devil hope of second-chance points. The Jayhawks on the other hand grabbed nine offensive rebounds and converted quite a few of those into baskets, which prevented Duke from running up its lead.

And the Duke game ball goes to… Jabari Parker:

For the second game in a row, Duke’s star player was freshman phenom Jabari Parker, who vindicated all the hype around him with another strong show. He led all players with 27 points and also grabbed nine rebounds before fouling out with just under a minute and a half to play. He made baskets at clutch moments and carried Duke on his shoulders as he bested the Kansas defense time and again. He got the crowd going with some highlight reel dunks and also had the Blue Devils’ sole block of the game.

And the Kansas game ball goes to… Andrew Wiggins:

In the much talked about game between the top two recruits in the country, Wiggins outshone Parker in the closing stages of the game as he first made a step back jumper followed by a powerful fast-break dunk to stretch the Jayhawks’ lead and lead them to victory. He contributed 22 points, 16 of which were scored in the second half, while also grabbing a game high 10 rebounds to go with two assists. He was everywhere in the second half, grabbing rebounds and scoring buckets as Duke could not find a way to stop him.