BOSTON - Gerald Henderson fumed at the free-throw line. Kyle Singler shook his head in disbelief and struggled to get back on defense. Jon Scheyer buried his head in his towel, relegated to the bench all too early in defeat.
On a night when Villanova could do no wrong and Duke could seemingly do no right, the Blue Devils' leaders bore the unfamiliar signs of frustration, unable to comprehend the team's-and, especially, their own-inability to put the ball in the basket and somehow rescue the team from a growing deficit.
Henderson seethed with frustration. Singler was incredulous. And Scheyer couldn't bear it at all.
Duke's three-pronged attack of Henderson, Singler and Scheyer had carried the Blue Devils to 30 wins and an ACC Tournament crown. With all three firing on all cylinders-and sometimes with only two clicking-the Duke offense was powerful enough to overwhelm the stingiest of opponents.
But against the Wildcats, the trio simply couldn't cut it.
"Those three kids have carried us offensively all year, and especially in the last month," Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "We were like a three-headed monster on offense. And it carried us a long way, but it couldn't [tonight]. They played a lot of five against three tonight."
Henderson, Singler and Scheyer had reason to assume the offensive responsibility for Duke, as the trio had combined for 48.2 points per game entering the contest, including an astounding 70 in the conference championship against Florida State. But they fell far short of that total with only 35 Thursday, stymied by an aggressive help defense that made it difficult for any of the three to get open looks.
"We did not want to play those guys one-on-one," Villanova head coach Jay Wright said. "They're just so good individually offensively-we always wanted to have a second guy coming at him."
Wright particularly commended his team's ability to contain Henderson, the Blue Devils' leading scorer. The junior said that every time he put the ball on the floor or drove into the lane, there was always another defender coming over to help. It showed in his shooting percentage, as he converted on 1-of-14 shots, nailing the one 3-pointer when he was guarded by a single defender late in the game.
"They just, coming into the game, had an emphasis on help side and not letting me get my shots off one-on-one, always having someone else there," Henderson said. "It was difficult for me to get my own shot, like it might happen in our game."
Scheyer likewise suffered his worst shooting performance of the year, making 3-of-18 from the field while being forced into shots late in the clock due to stagnant ball movement.
Singler managed a respectable 15 points on 5-of-13 shooting, but had perhaps the most emblematic moment of Duke's shooting woes. With seven minutes left, his 3-pointer that would have cut the lead to 10 rimmed out, essentially negating any further hope of a comeback.
"It was just a snowball effect. We weren't hitting our shots, and that itself is frustrating," Singler said. "So you take rushed and hurried shots, and those are the ones that hurt you in the long run."
In particular, it wasn't how Duke's big three had played. Singler was the rock in non-conference play, Henderson carried the Blue Devils through the ACC season and Scheyer came through with a Most Valuable Player performance in Atlanta.
But in a city that has been home to some of the most famous basketball trios, three wasn't enough this time.
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