2nd-ranked Duke Basketball played a classic in a game that featured 11 ties and 10 lead changes against Caleb Love Arizona and lost.
“The thing about this game though, is you learn so much more about yourself playing in it. It’s a great reality check,” said Duke coach Jon Scheyer, who lost for the first time at Cameron after winning 17 straight home games.
“Even if we won this game, there’s a lot that we can clean up and do better. For me, as long as I’m coaching, as long as I’m competing, I will always hate losing. That’s me as a competitor, but I also know that I’m thankful for this opportunity.
“Playing a team like Arizona, playing them this early in the year, I think it’s a great thing for our program.”
Duke twice rallied from an eight-point deficit, but they could not finish it.
Sophomore star Kyle Filipowski powered the Blue Devils with 25 points and seven rebounds. Senior guard Jeremy Roach had 17 points.
Caleb Love scored a 3-pointer at the end of the first half to give Arizona a 41-33 lead. He hit four free throws in the final 17.4 seconds to help the Wildcats seal it.
“I thought they were more aggressive in the first half. We didn’t play our best. Despite that, we’re right there at the end of the game,” Scheyer said.
“. … I think the biggest thing for me: We didn’t play together. That’s hard for me to swallow. That’s not OK for us. We didn’t play Duke basketball. I take full responsibility for that. There’s too many plays where we just zero-pass, one-pass possessions, where we’re just giving the ball up.”
The shooting was poor for both squads in the first half as they shot a combined 42.5% from the floor but Arizona got ahead on the rebound.
