Duke Bounces Back From Historic Loss
DURHAM, N.C. – If you thought the Duke Blue Devils would bounce back against the Winthrop Eagles with a whopping win – then you’re probably upset right now.
A second consecutive-game against a non-Power Five opponent looked like a mid-February ACC battle for the Blue Devils. Still, they fought past adversity to win 83-70 thanks mainly to the hot-hand of freshman forward Matthew Hurt. He scored 18 of his 20 points in the first half to lead the game in scoring and set his career-high.
The most concerning news for Duke (8-1) came early in the second half when freshman point guard Cassius Stanley limped off the court with the help of two teammates after taking a hard fall from an attempted layup.
“For Cassius (Stanley),” said Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski, “we thought his knee – right away –heard something pop. And structurally based on what our doctors’ said right now, it’s not the knee. Something happened with his hamstring that he heard pop. So, it’s muscular. He’ll have an MRI tomorrow.
“We don’t think it’s a knee injury – which is very good. Although, he’s gonna be out for a while. He’s not gonna be able to play, hopefully right after Christmas, that’s my hope.”
Krzyzewski knows that his team is in the development stages, and he’s content with where they’re at in the process.
“We’re not the Duke of the last five, maybe even 10 years,” Krzyzewski said. “It’s a different group. Like I said, ‘it’s old-fashioned.’ It’s also old-fashioned developing. But our response from the loss, because I know, those kids felt horrible, guilty, and you can lose a lot of confidence when you don’t already have confidence. We haven’t played enough to have confidence. And for them to play like that tonight – I’m proud of them.”
Confidence is about trusting in one’s ability, and coach Krzyzewski believed that his team’s early offensive struggles were due to his players putting to much pressure on themselves.
“We’re gonna have to work through a bunch of things like (confidence) with this group,” Krzyzewski said. “It’s just gonna take time, and we’re gonna try and muck it out. We know we’re not a top-5 team at the moment. We may not be a top-25 team in the country right now – but we have a good group, and we’ve beaten good teams. And we’ve played well.
“And now, where do we go after a loss and a win this week? And it’s a different journey for our fans, it’ a different journey for me – a much different journey – and we’re not pounding our chest saying, ‘we’re this great team,’ but, we have a great group of kids, and they’re working hard, and let’s try and keep it going. We have a really tough week next week.”
What’s Next
The Blue Devils travel to East Lansing, Mich, on Tuesday, Dec. 3, to play the No. 3 Michigan State Spartans in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Then, Duke plays in their first ACC game of the season next Friday, Dec.6, against the Virginia Tech Hokies in Blacksburg, Va.