Here’s why Coach K has a bone to pick with the ACC office
Coming off a game where it overcome in-game adversity to post a win, No. 10 Duke gets to deal with something different as it prepares to enter ACC play.
The Blue Devils won 87-75 at No. 11 Michigan State late Tuesday night, thriving without injured freshman guard Cassius Stanley and getting through some early foul trouble that further complicated an already disjointed rotation.
Having done all that, the Blue Devils took their chartered flight home from East Lansing, Michigan, in Wednesday morning’s wee hours, arriving around 4 a.m.
On Thursday, Duke (8-1) will head out on the road again to play its ACC opener at Virginia Tech on Friday night.
With final exams looming next week for players, this is a difficult week on the academic front as most have end-of-semester projects to complete before tackling finals. A couple of players took tests remotely on Monday night while in Michigan.
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski called it a “very difficult situation” for his players to prepare and play two road games. Having won at Michigan State, the Blue Devils’ readiness for Virginia Tech might not be its best.
“It is really not a good scheduling thing by our conference, and we will see how our guys react,” Krzyzewski said. “Obviously, we are real pleased with a win and now we’ve got to put that behind us very quickly.”
Yes that win over Michigan State is certainly something to savor.
Stanley made the trip but was in street clothes as the injured hamstring in his left leg heals. It’s the first time this season the athletic 6-6 guard was out of Duke’s starting lineup.
Jack White, a 6-7 senior, took Stanley’s place in the starting lineup, joining 6-6 freshman Wendell Moore with point guard Tre Jones in the backcourt.
But Moore picked up two fouls, both while playing defense, before five minutes had been played.
Junior guard Jordan Goldwire, a solid defender but not much of a threat on offense, took his place. Joey Baker, a 6-7 sophomore, entered the game to give White a rest.
But Baker picked up two fouls on defense, the second coming with 9:56 left until halftime, and was subbed out for the rest of the half.
That meant White had to play again. But he was called for his second foul with 7:53 left.
So Duke, already without Stanley, had three players with two fouls and nearly eight minutes left to play in the half.
Moore had to re-enter but picked up his third foul with 6:50 left. White’s third foul came on an offensive foul with 4:52 left.
Both players were subbed out immediately after picking up their third fouls.
So Goldwire and Jones manned the backcourt with Alex O’Connell while Javin DeLaurier, Vernon Carey and Matthew Hurt shared time at the two post positions.
“The foul trouble that we had, especially in the first half, kind of can mess you up a little bit,” Krzyzewski said.
And yet the Blue Devils built a 16-point lead with 3:22 to play in the half and, despite that limited lineup, maintained it to lead 45-29 at intermission.
The resurgent Spartans opened the second half on a 9-1 run, leaving Duke with a 46-38 lead with 17:30 to play. The home crowd at the Breslin Center was as loud as it had been since the opening tipoff.
During a timeout, though, the Blue Devils settled themselves to stop the Michigan State rally and push back.
“They hit us with that run right away and I thought our kids really did a great job after the timeout of regaining poise and get control of the game,” Krzyzewski said.
After the Blue Devils only scored on one of their first five possessions of the half, they got the ball inside to Carey who scored on two consecutive possessions to right Duke’s ship. The lead grew back to 16 points on Baker’s 3-pointer with 15:55 left and ballooned to 22 points on White’s 3-pointer with 9:09 left.
Michigan State’s spirit was broken as the Blue Devils played solidly on both ends despite the foul trouble. As it turned out, no Blue Devils fouled out of the game.
“Out coached. Out played. Out worked” is how Michigan State coach Tom Izzo opened his post-game press conference. He also said he thought Duke’s effort was “phenomenal.”
Now Duke has to turn in a similarly strong effort of preparation as it heads to Virginia Tech, where it has lost each of the last two seasons. The Hokies are 6-2 under first-year head coach Mike Young, including a 71-66 win over Michigan State at the Maui Invitational last week.
Virginia Tech followed that win up by losing 89-62 to Dayton and 90-77 to Brigham Young the next two days.
While the Hokies had to travel home from Hawaii on Thanksgiving, they haven’t played since the loss to BYU on Nov. 27.
So Duke will have to overcome its complicated week to beat a rested Virginia Tech team on the road.
Such is their lot in life as their fifth week of games this season draws to a close.
This story was originally published December 5, 2019 at 8:00 AM with the headline "Here’s why Coach K has a bone to pick with the ACC office."