CHARLOTTE -- Several key possessions come to mind when thinking of the turning points of Monday night's national final between Duke and Arkansas at the Charlotte Coliseum.
Scotty Thurman's amazing three-pointer with 50 seconds left to give Arkansas a 73-70 lead is probably the most obvious, followed by the Blue Devils' ensuing possession that yielded Chris Collins' three-point attempt that rimmed out. After Collins missed that shot, Duke never had another opportunity to tie the game in its 76-72 loss to the Razorbacks.
Duke may not have converted on Collins' shot, but at least the Blue Devils gave themselves a chance. Giving themselves a chance to score is something the Blue Devils didn't do during 23 other possessions of the game.
Duke's 23 turnovers is by far the most it made during this year's NCAA Tournament -- 15 against Texas Southern in the first round was the previous high. Duke averaged only 13.8 turnovers a game entering the Final Four.
Although the aggressive, pressing Arkansas defense forced many of them, the Blue Devils admitted they committed several unforced miscues that cost them chances at precious points.
"We didn't do the simple plays," senior Marty Clark said. "We tried to make things difficult. We tried to fit the ball into the corners. You can't do that."
Duke did do that, however, and Arkansas converted the Duke turnovers into 24 points. In the meantime, the Razorbacks committed just 12 turnovers, only three of which came in the second half.
"I know that this wasn't our best performance," Clark said.
The unforced miscues came in a variety of ways, but the one constant was that the Blue Devils often made bad passes while trying to make good plays.
In the first half, freshman Jeff Capel was leading a three-on-one fast break when he tried to make a behind the back pass to a teammate for a layup. Capel had made a similar pass in Duke's Southeast Regional win over Purdue last week to help ice that game, but the maneuver didn't work in the national championship contest.
The pass bounced off his leg and out-of-bounds.
In the same half, Capel tried to make a skip pass to Collins for a three-point attempt in the corner, but the ball slipped right through Collins' hands and out of play. Capel tried the same thing in the second half, but the pass sailed well over Collins' head.
On two occasions in the second half, the Blue Devils couldn't even inbound the ball from the baseline following Razorback baskets.
Capel and senior Grant Hill, Duke's primary ball-handlers, combined for 15 turnovers between them.
"I take all the responsibility for the turnovers," said Capel, who committed six overall, five in the first half. "Some of the ones I had were unforced. We were a little overanxious, trying to do too much."
Indeed, Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski acknowledged that some of the Blue Devils' miscues were unforced, but said that Arkansas' helter-skelter defense had a lot to do with disrupting Duke's offensive concentration.
"I don't think our kids made many mistakes," Krzyzewski said. "We threw it away and so did they. At times we had some unforced turnovers, but we were trying to do good things.
"We showed poise and played at a good tempo, and we didn't let the game get away from us."
"The turnovers were a sign of the great play by Arkansas," said Hill, who committed a season-high nine. "When you get in the Final Four and get in the national championship game you're not going to get tired [and turn the ball over]. Arkansas did a great job making things difficult.
"It's tough to handle a team like that."
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