LOUISVILLE, Ky.—Duke’s holiday trip to Louisville was quickly spoiled Thursday night as the Blue Devils found themselves drowning in a red sea on Denny Crum Court.
Under the bright lights of the KFC Yum! Center, Duke fell to No. 17 Louisville 61-44 in its first contest of the new year, ending its four-game win streak and setting its conference record to 1-2.
“Louisville played great. Certainly disruptive for us,” said head coach Kara Lawson, “We struggled taking care of the ball, and that’s something that we struggled with all year. [We had] 27 turnovers…It's just hard to win in this league when you throw the ball to the other team that many times, and I think it's something that I have to do a better job of coaching.”
Before the loss, the Blue Devils (9-5, 1-2 in the ACC) entered 2024 on a high note, outlasting Boston College while shooting 63.8% from the field and 57.1% from three. Both the marks represent Duke’s season-highs. The Blue Devils did not bring the same consistency to Louisville (13-2, 2-0), though. Duke finished the contest with a 33.3% field-goal percentage and a paltry 10.5% rate from beyond the arc.
“[The Cardinals] do a good job of pressure, and we saw it on film too and tried to prepare for it,” Lawson said. “We just didn't handle the pressure well, and we have to do a better job of handling ball pressure, denials, and post entries.”
Going into its third conference matchup of the season, an important edge that Duke maintained over their ranked opponents was its impressive 7.2 blocks-per-game average, which leads the ACC. Although Louisville led on the scoreboard at the time, a wave of concern seemed to spread throughout the KFC Yum! Center as 6-foot-5 center Camilla Emsbo subbed in for 6-foot-6 senior Kennedy Brown. The Blue Devils would keep their height advantage throughout the duration of the matchup. The towering duo of Emsbo and Brown combined for five blocks as Duke out-blocked Louisville seven to four.
A 3-point shoot-off opened the first quarter, as a make from freshman guard Oluchi Okananwa quickly answered two Louisville triples. As the first frame continued, the Blue Devils struggled to gain any offensive traction as turnovers plagued their early game scoring opportunities. The Cardinals, likewise, struggled with scoring in the beginning as Duke’s swarming defense kept the Blue Devils within reach of their hosts throughout the opening frame.
As Louisville started to solve its problems on the offensive end of the court in the second quarter, though, Duke continued to struggle. More than eight minutes elapsed in the second frame before the Blue Devils scored their first points of the quarter, and the margin between the two teams continued to increase as the Cardinals continued to connect on their shots. To make matters worse, foul trouble began to accompany Duke’s offensive frustrations, and Lawson was forced to make frequent substitutions towards the end of the quarter.
Ultimately, a lackluster 30.8% clip from the field for the Cardinals dramatically outshone Duke’s 14.3% rate, and Louisville outscored its visitors 35-19 in the first half.
The Blue Devils came out of the halftime break re-energized and eager to reverse their first-half shortcomings. A turnaround bankshot by Brown started off the scoring. On the very next possession, Duke accomplished three offensive rebounds following a missed free throw, but failed to convert. The play ended on a Blue Devil turnover which soon turned into two points the other direction for Louisville.
From there, the third quarter appeared to be an unfortunate repeat of the game’s first two as the Cardinals continued to outscore their conference visitors. Louisville didn’t miss a single free throw and scored 19 points in the third to go into the final quarter up 23 points.
The Blue Devils visibly lacked confidence going into the last frame, and they played like their main objective was to keep the game from getting out of hand. But as the fourth quarter progressed, Duke continued to display the same errors that plagued it up to that point: fouls weren’t falling its way and turnovers continued to hold Lawson’s team from generating any effective scoring.
In the loss, the Blue Devils scored a total of 44 points — their lowest all season.
“When you overcome things, you get stronger, you become tougher and more resilient, and you have a competitiveness about you,” Lawson said. “I think that [physicality and competitiveness] was the biggest difference to me tonight [between Duke and Louisville].”
Duke will continue its road trip and attempt to bounce back as it travels to Charlottesville, Va., Sunday to take on Virginia.
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