Duke’s Grayson Allen drives between North Carolina State’s Cody Martin, left, and Lennard Freeman during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Durham, N.C., Saturday, Feb. 6, 2016. Chinanu Onuaku (10.1 points, 8.8 rebounds) tallied eight points to fall just shy of his ninth double-double of the season, but his 13 boards were enough for the sophomore center to post his eight double-digit rebounding effort during league play.ABOUT DUKE (17-6, 6-4): Coach Mike Krzyzewski returned to the sidelines Saturday after missing the previous contest at Georgia Tech due to illness and his team welcomed him back with a season-high 14 3-pointers, including a school freshman-record tying six from Luke Kennard (12.5 points).
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The key stretch came when Louisville had the ball down 66-62 with about 2½ minutes left. “He’s rushing things too much”.
This was Louisville’s first road game since announcing it would self-impose a postseason ban this year amid an ongoing investigation into a sex scandal involving escorts, and it coincided with Pitino’s first visit to Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Brandon Ingram and Matt Jones both made two free throws on the next two possessions before freshman Derryck Thornton hit a jumper in the lane with the shot clock winding down to make it 70-62 with 33 seconds left.
The Blue Devils showed no signs of fatigue in the first half, but a 13-0 Louisville run early in the second half made it a stiff test of Duke’s heavy legs.
With Amile Jefferson out – and perhaps even if he were healthy – these turnarounds have proven hard for Duke’s 6 1/2-man rotation, with Chase Jeter giving Duke some useful minutes in the first half Monday but not playing in the second.
The Blue Devils’ 72-65 win was their first against a ranked opponent this season, but Duke will have no shortage of opportunities to add to that number in the next two weeks.
“We don’t deserve this”, said Lewis, who transferred from Cleveland State last spring. “We’re older now, so to speak”. We don’t want that feeling again.
Like Duke, Louisville comes into this game winning the last two games, while sitting atop of the ACC standings. “We just had to fight”. He entered 741-258 in 31 seasons as a college coach….
Last year’s historic season ultimately resulted in Duke’s fifth national championship, but it’s easy to forget that the 2014-15 season was not free of some of the woes that have plagued this year’s Blue Devil squad.
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Duke plays host to No. 19 Louisville on Monday night.
