When the Blue Devils entered the season, there was some chatter of a potential undefeated year on the horizon.
Without its top three freshmen, Duke was inconsistent in its first real test Tuesday, and now will look to bounce back with another contest against a ranked opponent approaching.
The No. 1 Blue Devils started the season with two back-to-back wins in the friendly confines of Cameron Indoor Stadium before dropping a 77-75 nail-biter to seventh-ranked Kansas Tuesday at Madison Square Garden. Now the Blue Devils must pivot to another set of back-to-back games starting Saturday at the Hall-of-Fame Tip-Off against Penn State at 12:30 p.m. at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. Depending on the outcome of that game, Duke will face either No. 21 Rhode Island or No. 24 Cincinnati Sunday.
Duke will still probably be without Marques Bolden, Harry Giles and Jayson Tatum due to injury, meaning the team must continue to navigate its busy nonconference schedule without them for the time being.
“I think we’re a good team. Otherwise, we would have been blown out of here tonight,” Blue Devil head coach Mike Krzyzewski said following Tuesday’s loss. “But we’re a limited team right now. We’re not who we imagine ourselves to be, but that’s not an excuse, that’s just the way it is. We’ll see what will happen when we get guys back. I think these experiences are good.”
Krzyzewski will once again likely be operating with a short six-man rotation anchored by the team's veterans until his top recruits return to the lineup. Sophomore Luke Kennard was masterful Tuesday against the Jayhawks, contributing a game-high 22 points on 7-of-10 shooting, including a 2-of-4 performance from beyond the arc. Like almost every starter in the game, senior Matt Jones was in foul trouble, but still managed 3-of-5 shooting from 3-point range.
However, the cornerstones for the Blue Devils (2-1) failed to make their mark consistently in the loss. Graduate student Amile Jefferson only had one point in the second half to go along with seven total turnovers before eventually fouling out of the game. Preseason All-American Grayson Allen also struggled, suffering through an abysmal night as he shot 4-of-15 from the floor and just 1-of-7 from deep.
Jefferson’s foul trouble illustrated how thin the frontcourt is for Duke right now, as sophomore Chase Jeter was the only other big man to see significant minutes throughout the game. Despite improving from his first season in Durham, Jeter could not keep pace with Kansas' more physical forwards and could not protect the rim after a few early fouls. The Jayhawks crushed the Blue Devils in the paint and on the boards to the tune of 14 offensive boards that turned into 18 second-chance points.
With Duke's starters in foul trouble, forward Javin DeLaurier could have given the team a boost up front, but the freshman saw only a single minute of action Tuesday night.
But despite the thin lineup, Kansas only narrowly defeated the Blue Devils, giving Duke plenty of positives to carry forward. Even with only six men and two stars not playing like themselves, Duke nearly beat a championship contender in large part due to the late heroics of Kennard and freshman Frank Jackson.
"You’ve just got to be smart. You’ve got to adjust,” Jefferson said of playing with foul trouble. “You’ve got to understand how they’re calling the game and be poised. For a while, we weren’t us, and that hurt us, but I thought we did a great job of fighting back. They’re a really good team, and we've just got to get better.”
On Saturday, the Blue Devils will see another Power-5 conference opponent in Penn State, though the Nittany Lions have struggled early in the year. Since dropping its season opener to Albany, Penn State knocked off Duquesne and Grand Canyon with single-digit victories. Penn State (2-1) is led by freshman Lamar Stevens, who has a team-high 53 points already and is one of five players who averages more than 10 points per game. Four of those players are freshmen who will look to make their mark in their first high-profile contest.
If Duke gets past the Nittany Lions, it can expect a tough matchup against either Rhode Island (3-0) or Cincinnati (2-0) Sunday at 1 p.m. The Rams are led by junior guard E.C. Matthews, who averages 20.0 points per game, and the Bearcats could also present a challenge led by point guard Troy Caupain and their physical defense.
The loser of Rhode Island-Cincinnati will play the loser of Duke-Penn State Sunday at 3:30 p.m., but the Blue Devils hope to ensure they play Sunday's opener after cutting into a late double-digit deficit in the loss to Kansas.
"It shows a lot of fight. It shows we're not going to give up, but again, we have to put together a 40-minute game," Allen said. "It can't be just something that once we start a little run, then we get going."
Hank Tucker and Brian Pollack contributed reporting.
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