Usual strengths absent as Blue Devils duck out of Sweet 16

ANAHEIM, Calif.—Before the season even began, it was evident this Duke team would need scoring from its guards to be successful. Three-point shooting and free throws were the offensive keys that head coach Mike Krzyzewski stressed consistently for a team that no longer had ACC Player of the Year Jahlil Okafor in the post.

When forward Amile Jefferson went down in December with a right foot injury, that identity only became more important.

And for the majority of the season, it worked—the Blue Devils’ 321 3-pointers this season ranked second in program history, and they boasted five guards who could spread the floor and knock down triples. Duke’s 617 made free throws ranked fifth among major conference teams entering its Sweet 16 matchup with Oregon, and 55 percent of the team’s total offense came from the charity stripe or beyond the arc.

But it was those two areas that hurt the Blue Devils most against the Ducks Thursday, and ultimately spelled the end of their season.

Duke’s prowess from the 3-point line and in the free throw department was not lost on an Oregon team that takes great pride in its defense, and the Ducks honed in on taking away the Blue Devils’ biggest offensive weapons.

“Our main objective was just to run them off the line,” Oregon forward Jordan Bell said. “We know they’re a great 3-point shooting team, so just to make them put it on the ground, I told everybody once you make them put it on the ground, don’t foul them. I’m going to come get it.”

Come at he did. Bell had three blocks, and Oregon came at Duke with all sorts of length, athleticism and quickness, closing out on shooters to force the Blue Devils into making just two of their 10 3-point attempts in the first half, and only 7-of-22 for the game.

It was not until freshman Brandon Ingram splashed home back-to-back triples with more than 12 minutes gone by that Duke connected on its first 3-pointer, signaling a poor start for a team that loves to get into a shooting rhythm at the beginning of games.

Much of Duke’s offense is centered around the drive-and-kick from Grayson Allen, a play that typically ends in either open 3-pointers for his teammates or a trip to the free throw line for Allen, an 84.1 percent shooter from the line. Thursday, though, there were no such opportunities to be found, and Allen’s normal aggression off the dribble was met by a Duck defense determined not to let him get to his destination.

With a rotation of versatile defenders stymying him at seemingly every turn, the first team All-ACC selection quietly scored just three points in the first half and struggled to settle into any kind of groove as Oregon built a sizable lead it would not relinquish.

“We’ve played against size, length, athleticism in the ACC. In some ways, we’ve seen that kind of thing before,” Allen said. “When we attacked the rim, we just didn’t go up strong. There were some shots that we missed that we normally make, and also stuff they blocked as well.”

On the interior, the 6-foot-8 Bell and 6-foot-10 Chris Boucher suffocated the Blue Devils whenever they ventured into the paint. The duo combined for four swats and altered countless other attempts with their length and leaping ability. Perhaps more importantly, they did so without affording Duke any chances for easy points at the free-throw line.

The Blue Devils finished 9-of-15 from the charity stripe, just the sixth time all season they have registered fewer than 10 points on free throws. As the Ducks stretched their lead in the second half, Duke could not force itself back into the game by racking up freebies at the line—as it had in a slew of games this year—thanks to Oregon’s discipline down low.

“They’re two of the best shot blockers in the country,” Krzyzewski said. “Boucher is somebody that stretches you with shooting and Bell is athletic and inside. But both of them protect the rim. When they have both of them in the game, it’s tough to get there.”

The Blue Devils were certainly no strangers to playing tough and agile defenses, but the Ducks took away the edge that has allowed Krzyzewski’s depth-strapped team to compete with opponents all year long. Oregon’s complete, five-man approach to defense carried over to the offensive end, where quick ball movement led to several thunderous slams for Bell and company inside.

Unable to get stops on the defensive end, Duke could not generate ball movement like the Ducks and instead resorted to a stagnant, ineffective attack that bore little resemblance to the one it had employed for the prior 35 games.

“We didn’t attack like we usually do, like we can. We settled for tough shots and we gave up tough shots where we could have had better shots,” Duke freshman Luke Kennard said. “We knew their athleticism could be something we need to work around. We knew they were shot-blockers. But we just weren’t attacking. We would go into the lane and throw up these little shots not strong and they got a lot of blocks off of that, and we just didn’t attack well together.”