72 - 66 Arizona used a patented Duke run mid-way through the second half to help send them past the Blue Devils 72-66 in the finals of the NIT Season Tip-Off Tournament.
In the Blue Devils supposed home away from home it was the Arizona fan base that fed the Wildcats energy and helped turn every Duke miscue into a reason to celebrate and there were quite a few Blue Devil miscues. The amount of fans pulling for either team was likely a 50/50 split, but the Arizona fans were louder and persistent cheers roared in the Garden.
Duke once again relied heavily on the the services of Jabari Parker who scored 19 points but had 5 of the Blue Devils 11 turnovers as he often tried to do way too much for his team. He also missed a dunk in the midst of trying to stop the Arizona run. Rodney Hood lead the Blue Devils in scoring and rebounding with 21 points and 8 boards. However, despite the scoring prowess of Duke’s super duo, the rest of the team struggled.
Quinn Cook chipped in 13 points but only mustered 3 assists and had two turnovers of his own, sitting out much of the first half with 2 fouls. The Blue Devils struggled to get their shots off and when they didn’t hit they had difficulty grabbing rebounds over the much bigger Arizona squad. Arizona won the rebounding game 36-28, but was only head 23-22 boards before their run.
Defensively Duke at times looks solid, but at others they were beaten badly. At one point late in the game Mike Krzyzewski even tried switching to a zone which didn’t generate any better results.
In many ways the game resembled Duke’s earlier loss to Kansas. They took a slim lead into half-time, had a chance early in the second half to extend that lead and then mid-way through hit a wall on both ends of the court. The Blue Devils watched as Arizona threw together a 20-5 run and take control of the game, something Duke fans are accustomed to seeing their team do.
The Wildcats got a balanced scoring effort as all of their starters scored in double figured with Nick Johnson leading the way with 15 points and Brandon Ashley adding 13 points.
At 6-2 many will ask the question, “what is wrong with Duke,” however, that question needs more than one post game recap. Still this is a good team, just one that has lost two games to better teams. They can get better, but it will take time and patience, something many Duke fans aren’t known to have much of.
Things don’t get any easier as the Blue Devils will welcome a very good Michigan team into Cameron on Tuesday. A loss in that game would really have Duke fans hitting the panic button while a win would easy some of the stress caused by games like this.
