SOUTH BEND, Ind.—Warming up to “The Final Bell” from the soundtrack of Rocky, Notre Dame must have envisioned itself as a contender in a heavyweight prizefight. In a game that lived up to its primetime billing, Duke landed a flurry of second-half punches that would have left almost any opponent on the ropes.
But when the Blue Devils thought they had the game won, Notre Dame responded with a knockout blow.
The No. 8 Fighting Irish came from 10 points down in the second half to stun the No. 4 Blue Devils 77-73 at Purcell Pavilion. After erasing a double-digit deficit Sunday to earn head coach Mike Krzyzewski’s 1,000th-career victory, this time it was Duke that fell victim to a late-game comeback.
“We didn’t make the tough plays at the right time,” senior guard Quinn Cook said. “We had a chance to win. We were up. We just let up.”
A pair of baskets with the shot clock expiring ultimately sealed the Blue Devils’ fate. Senior guard Jerian Grant—who finished with a game-high 23 points—hit a circus shot in the lane to give the Fighting Irish (20-2, 8-1 in the ACC) a 73-70 lead with 1:07 to play.
Following two Cook free throws, Duke sent a late double-team at Grant in the shot clock’s closing seconds, leaving sophomore guard Steve Vasturia open for a 3-pointer from the right corner with 22.9 seconds remaining.
“Grant made a heck of a bucket—a fortunate bucket, but a heck of a bucket,” Krzyzewski said. “Then the next play, we should not have left Vasturia. You have to make Grant take a two-point shot, which we were, and we left him, and [Vasturia] hit a huge shot.”
Freshman center Jahlil Okafor led the way for Duke (17-3, 4-3) with 22 points and 17 rebounds, shooting 10-of-18 from the floor but just 2-for-7 from the foul line.
After managing to hit just 1-of-4 from the floor in the first half, freshman point guard Tyus Jones took over early in the second half en route to 14 points. The Apple Valley, Minn., native made several key plays in a 9-0 run that opened up a 60-51 lead for the Blue Devils with 13:50 to play.
Jones pushed the lead to double-digits when he received a feed off a missed free throw from sophomore guard Matt Jones and knocked down a 3-pointer from the left corner to extend Duke’s lead to 63-53 with 12:45 left.
Refusing to go down for the count, the Fighting Irish responded with a 14-2 run of their own, holding the Blue Devils to just one field goal in 7:17 and storming back to take the lead.
“You’re going to get a run from them,” Krzyzewski said. “We had a run—that’s why we had a 10-point lead. Two teams are playing, that’s just the way it goes.”
Ultimately, it was missed opportunities that cost the Blue Devils the game. Duke converted just 10-of-20 attempts from the free-throw line, including back-to-back misses by Okafor from the charity stripe with 2:42 remaining and the Blue Devils trailing 70-69.
Krzyzewski chalked up Duke’s woes from the line to his team’s youth and a disproportionate amount of attempts taken by Okafor and Amile Jefferson—who combined for 10 of their teams trips to the line and converted just twice.
With their 50-percent performance from the free-throw line against Notre Dame, the Blue Devils as a team dipped below 70 percent from the charity stripe on the season.
The Blue Devils were not without opportunities—they simply failed to cash in. Despite pulling in 13 offensive rebounds on the evening, Duke turned them into just nine second-chance points. Missing easy chances at the rim was a major reason the Fighting Irish only trailed 39-36 heading into halftime.
Duke’s toughest road trip of the year will only get tougher when the Blue Devils travel to face No. 2 Virginia Saturday. If there’s any way the Blue Devils would like to bounce back, it is by handing the Cavaliers their first loss of the season.
“We can’t feel sorry for ourselves, we have a big-time game on Saturday,” Cook said.
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