Coach K: This ‘different’ Duke team might spend months looking for its best version
Duke remains No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll for the weekend, until the bill for its stunning loss to Stephen F. Austin comes due on Monday.
That’s when the new poll comes out that will certainly drop the Blue Devils from their perch atop the nation’s college basketball teams.
That doesn’t bother Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski a bit.
Tuesday’s 85-83 overtime loss exposed Duke’s flaws. Friday night, the Blue Devils responded by beating Winthrop 83-70 in a game in which they played better, but not like a team that should be considered a national championship favorite.
“It’s going to take time,” Krzyzewski said. “We’re going to try to muck it out. We know we’re not a top-5 team. We may not be a top 25 team in the country right now. But we’ve beaten good teams and we’ve played well. Now where do we go after a loss and win this week? It’s a different journey.”
Different indeed.
In an eye-raising move, Krzyzewski used the same starting lineup against Winthrop that he did against Stephen F. Austin. That’s not normally how things go.
But Krzyzewski decided that group -- sophomore point guard Tre Jones along with freshmen Vernon Carey, Jr., Matthew Hurt, Cassius Stanley and Wendell Moore -- was most deserving of getting another shot despite Tuesday’s outcome.
The players, of course, took Tuesday’s loss hard.
“I know those kids felt horribly, felt guilty and you can lose a lot of confidence when you don’t already have confidence,” Krzyzewski said.
So the veteran coach veered away from the time-worn tactics of past seasons where he blew up the lineup or barred the team from wearing Duke gear until they earned it back.
Again, things are different this year.
Krzyzewski is still demanding, like when he shows little patience for players who lose rebounds or cause turnovers because they aren’t “strong with the ball.”
But Friday night against Winthrop, he sensed something else was at play during a first-half timeout. The Blue Devils started 4 of 13 from the field and trailed 14-12.
“My whole timeout,” Krzyzewski said, “was ‘Look, we’re squeezing the ball. You guys are putting the weight of the world on yourselves,’ not on the defensive end. So I said, ‘Just shoot free.’”
Sophomore guard Joey Baker took those words and ran with them.
He drilled a 3-pointer in transition to put Duke ahead. After a Winthrop basket, Baker sank another 3-pointer 51 seconds after his first.
That was part of Baker’s 16-point night that included making four of his five 3-point attempts. He also played solid defensively.
“We wouldn’t have won the game without Joey,” Krzyzewski said.
Duke also wouldn’t have won without Matthew Hurt. Just one week earlier, Hurt played only five minutes as the Blue Devils beat Georgetown 81-73.
Hurt was distraught after the game with how poorly he played. Senior forward Jack White, one of Duke’s four captains, gave him a post-game pep talk in the locker room at Madison Square Garden,
Krzyzewski met with Hurt this week.
On Friday night, the 6-9 freshman scored a season-best 20 points while grabbing eight rebounds. He was fouled four times, using those opportunities to hit four of six free throws.
“And he was the one guy Tuesday that played well,” Krzyzewski said. “I’m proud of him because he was not good in New York. We met and he’s worked harder. But he responded well, he responded real well. I’m proud of him.”
That doesn’t mean Hurt is certain to play like that every game for the rest of the season. Just as Wendell Moore scored 17 points in that win over Georgetown, the freshman guard went scoreless with only one rebound and one assist against Winthrop.
His ability to respond from a subpar performance is even more important with freshman guard Cassius Stanley sidelined with a left hamstring injury.
Ups and downs and ups and downs figure to mark Krzyzewski’s 40th season as Duke’s coach. He said this team is unlike the teams Duke’s had in the last five years and perhaps even the last 10 years.
“It’s a different journey for our fans, for me and it’s a much different journey,” Krzyzewski said.
“We’re not pounding our chests, but we have a great group of kids and they’re working hard.”
All of that doesn’t mean Duke can’t achieve all of its goals, including becoming good enough to win a national championship.
It just means it might take all the way until March before the Blue Devils consistently look like a team that can accomplish something like that.
This story was originally published November 30, 2019 at 5:30 AM with the headline "Coach K: This ‘different’ Duke team might spend months looking for its best version."