Tough Night In Cameron As Duke Falls To Pitt, 80-76

 A tough night in many ways but in failure there is opportunity.

Unfortunately this game went as we expected: without Mark Mitchell, Duke had some real matchup problems and a big size disadvantage. And without steady senior leadership from Jeremy Roach, a guy who is more than capable of getting to the basket when necessary, Duke struggled with sound decisions.

Pitt led 9-0 and Duke didn't score until Kyle Filipowski made a pair of free throws and didn't score until Caleb Foster scored a three four minutes and five seconds into the game.

The Blue Devils battled back, first taking the lead at 26-23 on a Jared McCain three.

But Pitt's shooting was too good to miss and it took a 38-34 lead into halftime.

Duke played better in the second quarter, and took the lead several times, first at 50-49 at the 13:56 mark on a Jaylen Blakes free throw and again at 62-61 on a Caleb Foster free throw.

But Pitt played better, building a 76-71 lead with :26 remaining. Caleb Foster split on a pair of free throws with :19 remaining and then Kyle Filipowski hit a three after Jalen Lowe hit one to make it 77-75.

Tyrese Proctor was fouled on a three-point attempt with :04 remaining and missed the first, then hit the second. He attempted a fumble in the third but missed the rim so it went back to Pitt with :04 remaining.

That night was like that.

This was compounded by the behavior of Pitt's Blake Hinson, who got involved with the Crazies to the point where he was called out for a technical taunt. Late in the game, he jumped into the press line to taunt some more. The only thing we'll say about it is that we're disappointed that Jeff Capel didn't have better control over his players. It didn't reflect well on him or his program. However, the way to respond to such behavior lies in the courts. Maybe Duke will see Pitt in the ACC Tournament and we can see how he performs there.

It's tough playing without two starters but Duke is still in position to win this game. The Blue Devils got clutch play from McCain and Foster played pretty well for the most part.

Kyle Filipowski is a very talented player but he is not gifted vertically and he sometimes challenges people from deep when he would be smarter to redistribute it. And that's true as he has shown that he is a very talented passer. The inside game has been a challenge for Duke this season and even more so with Mitchell out. Ryan Young has his moments, but he's less agile than Filipowski, so that's a problem.

Duke was also basically beaten by Pitt. The Panthers played a very physical game and while the crowd complained about the officiating, you basically had to go along with what was happening. Pitt played a rough, physical style and Duke couldn't match it and paid dearly.

Still, a little more production on offense would help: Duke shot 44.9 percent and 39.3 from behind the arc while Pitt hit 50.8 percent overall and even 50 percent from deep. Eight of their 10 threes came from Hinson, who didn't miss a three. Duke did get a big advantage from the line, scoring 21-28 and Pitt 10-16.

Meanwhile, Jon Scheyer wasn't happy saying this: “By the way, I want to apologize to our fans as well. What happened in the end, it couldn't have happened. That's our responsibility and that's unacceptable. So, for us, we have to watch the game, take lessons from it, move quickly – we'll go through this journey in a day and a half – and learn from it. Because for me what happened tonight was not good.”

Not much time to think about it. The games he mentioned were Louisville on Tuesday and then Clemson coming to Cameron next Saturday. Then a short trip to Blacksburg followed with the first UNC game.

So we're in the middle of it. Hopefully Roach and Mitchell return soon and everyone learns from this incident. One thing that was good and useful was that the young players got a lot of pressure in the game, especially Foster and McCain. Both responded well tonight and we hope they are ready for when things get tough next time.

And hopefully Mitchell and Roach will be there too.

Notes - Ryan Young got a standing ovation when he dove to the floor for a loose ball and heard his name screamed... karma visited Hinson when Young tried to throw the ball away from him and stabbed him straight through his crotch. ..Foster was really solid on offense, hitting 4-9 and 3-5 on threes...Jaylen Blakes started which means Duke's starters were 7-0, 6-5, 6-5, 6-3 and 6-2 ...Duke is out rebounding 32-25 overall and 9-4 offensively...Foster is the leading rebounder...