Duke was on fire out of the gate. The Blue Devils began the game 4-4 from three and Hurt and Moore each knocked down a deep jump shot early. Everything seemed to be falling. After 6 minutes of play, Duke led 20-8. Henry Coleman then checked in and as he always does, made an impact play right away, this time in the form of an and one to extend Duke’s lead to 15.
This was about when the good times stopped for Duke. While Duke was still shooting the ball well for the most part, their torrid pace cooled off a bit. However, offense was not the issue for Duke. Duke simply could not get stops. Notre Dame was doing whatever they wanted offensively.
By the 3:24 mark of the first half, Notre Dame trimmed the lead all the way down to two. Duke surrendered their big early lead primarily on the back of extremely poor defense. Duke allowed Cormac Ryan to set a career high in scoring in the first half with 21 points. At the half, Duke led 50-45.
The start of the second half featured a barrage of offense from both teams. After a frenzied pace leading to the under sixteen timeout, Duke led 62-58. The defensive struggles continued for Duke and after a three from Trey Wertz, Duke trailed for the first time in the game with 13:43 to play. The teams continued to trade baskets, with the lead exchanging several times. With 5:03 to play, Notre Dame scored and took a three point lead, their largest of the game. Duke called timeout and then Roach tied the game up with a three.
In the end, Duke’s permeable defense was too much to overcome. The final five minutes were mostly controlled by Notre Dame, providing yet another dose of reality as to what this Duke team is this year.
Main Observations:
Wendell Moore
Moore was fantastic in this game. He was aggressive from the opening tip and was the only reason Duke did not get blown out in this one. Moore finished with 24 points, 1o rebounds, 3 assists, and zero turnovers on 9/16 from the field.
Ball watching remains problematic
Watching the ball has been area where Duke has struggled defensively all season, and it really reared its ugly head in this game. Notre Dame was able to find guys wide open on cuts, plays that could easily be avoided with more defensive awareness.
Lack of communication
Ball watching is not the only fatal defensive flaw for this team. There is little to zero communication defensively on this team. Guys seem to rarely be on the same page. Duke looked completely out of sorts defensively and their lack of communication was a huge reason why.
Jalen Johnson
This was very rough outing for Jalen Johnson. He quickly turned the ball over twice after entering the game in the first half, seemingly playing a large part in hurting Duke’s momentum. The second half was not any better for Johnson. Simply put, Johnson left much to be desired in this game.
Roach seems to have overcome Freshman wall
After going scoreless in back to back games, Jeremy Roach has played very well in three of the last four games. In this one, Roach finished with 16 points on 7/12 from the field. He is back to playing under control and getting downhill offensively. Consequently, his efficient shooting has returned. It has been good to see Roach overcome his struggles, one of the few things Duke can feel good about at the moment.