Duke weathered Florida State’s 3-point shooting on Saturday to pull out a 91-87 road victory over the Seminoles. Next up: Louisville on Tuesday night at the KFC Yum! Center. The Cardinals are fourth nationally in making 3’s, connecting on 12.2 a game. They’re fifth in 3-point attempts at 34.6 a game — FSU is averaging 36.5. The No. 6 Blue Devils (13-1, 2-0 ACC) were caught up in a fast-paced game at FSU, and it should be a repeat Tuesday at Louisville. But the No. 20 Cardinals (11-3, 1-1) again will be without Mikel Brown Jr., Louisville coach Pat Kelsey said Monday on the ACC coaches media call. The dynamic 6-5 freshman point guard, averaging 16.6 points and 5.1 assists a game, is considered an NBA lottery pick by many NBA observers. But he has been sidelined the past five games by a lower-back issue.
“He’s chomping at the bit,” Kelsey said. “He wants to be out there so stinking bad, It has been a couple of disappointing setbacks. We feel really good he’s going to come around sooner rather than later. He’s working his butt off.” The Cardinals took a West Coast swing for their first two ACC games, winning by 20 points at California but then taking an 80-76 loss at Stanford on Friday night. They then returned home for a Tuesday game, a swift turnaround given the travel. No complaints from Kelsey, however. “It’s part of the new era of collegiate sports, the nature of the beast,” he said Monday. Duke defensive concerns Duke coach Jon Scheyer is more concerned about his team’s defense at this point despite the Blue Devils’ 2-0 start to their ACC schedule. The Seminoles were 14-of-30 on 3’s and shot 54.3% from the field. “Bottom line, it has not been good enough,” Scheyer said Monday. “We’ve hung our hat on our defense since the beginning of this year and that has taken a big step back.
“There are things we need to do better. First and foremost, regardless of the defense, you’ve got to guard the ball, and play with bigtime effort, bigtime toughness, and physicality. We’ve got to build our habits back up.” The Blue Devils have mixed in some zone defenses the past two games. It was effective against Georgia Tech in the 85-79 victory and partially so at FSU. Against the Seminoles, the Blue Devils were outscored in the paint, 30-28, in addition to allowing the 14 3-pointers. Duke also had 15 turnovers that FSU converted into 17 points. “We scored 91 points but I thought we gave them a little bit of life with turnovers,” Scheyer said. “It’s one thing to give up 14 3’s, it’s another thing to give up 14 3’s and get outscored in the paint. “Look, you’re not going to eliminate Louisville or Florida State from shooting 3’s. That’s what they do. That’s what we do. But you can’t give up both layups and points in the paint and free throws and 14 3’s.”
How will Louisville defend Cam Boozer? Free throws have given the Devils an edge in the two ACC wins. They were 23 of 25 at FSU as Cameron Boozer made seven of eight and Isaiah Evans hit all six. The Cardinals took the strategy of double-teaming Boozer inside realizing it could open up things on the 3-point line. Evans knocked down six 3’s, half of Duke’s total (12-27), and Dame Sarr and Caleb Foster each had three 3-pointers.
Duke has beaten Louisville the last seven times they’ve been on the basketball court, including the Blue Devils’ last three games on the Cardinals’ home floor at the KFC Yum! Center.
In the last meeting, last March in Charlotte, the Devils took a 73-62 victory in the ACC Tournament championship game at the Spectrum Center. Cooper Flagg was out with an ankle injury and Kon Knueppel doing the heavy lifting. In winning, Duke added the tournament title to its regular-season title. In the game last season at the Yum! Center, the Cards took a 37-35 halftime lead, only to have Duke score 43 second-half points in taking a 76-65 win. It was the ACC opener for both schools as Duke went on to post a 19-1 record while Louisville and Clemson were 18-2. It’s a new season and a more competitive ACC, the coaches believe. Such is the “eye test,” as Scheyer put it. After the 85-79 win over Georgia Tech at Cameron Indoor Stadium in the ACC opener this season, Scheyer appeared miffed about people assuming the Devils would be easy winners given the 27.5 point spread. “When you see on ESPN that we’re 27-point favorites or whatever, you don’t think that stuff’s out there?” he said. “That’s crazy. It’s insane. The world we’re in, betting, the lines being out there, mock drafts and all that stuff, can give you a false sense of reality.”
