Duke lost to Florida State on Wednesday night for one main reason: Its inability to hit jump shots consistently. But that stemmed from the main reason Florida State was able to upset the Blue Devils: Their outstanding defense forced Duke into settling for those perimeter shots.
Duke Vs. Florida State: Kyle Singler Does His Part In Loss, But Rest Of Blue Devils Struggle
Duke took 35 threes on the night, making 11 of them in the 66-61 loss. After what may have been Kyle Singler’s worst half of basketball as a Blue Devil (Duke Basketball Report’s words, not mine), the All-American stormed back in the second half, draining threes and keeping Duke in he game. He finished with 20 points after scoring just two in the first half.
For Duke fans, the team’s first real road trip since losing guard Kyrie Irving brings up some cause for concern:
This was Duke’s first real road trip since Kyrie Irving went down and questions abounded. Most of them were not answered to Duke’s satisfaction. There’s an old basketball saying that a team that lives by the jump shot, will die by the jump shot. Singler and Smith did their part but the rest of the team was a woeful 2-17 from behind the arc. Mason Plumlee was all over the boards but none of the big men brought much offense to the table.
While Duke has been an outstanding shooting team so far this season, they’ll need to establish more consistent inside scoring for games like Wednesday night’s, when the shots aren’t falling from outside.
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