After seeing a 10-game winning streak snapped Saturday in a last-second loss to its rival, No. 4 Duke will aim to bounce back on Tuesday night when it travels to Pittsburgh.
Duke’s road loss to North Carolina, on a last-second shot by the Tar Heels, was just the second of the season for the Blue Devils (21-2, 10-1 Atlantic Coast Conference). Duke was outscored by 15 points in the second half and 9-0 over the final 2:25.
A point of contention after the game between the two rivals was the discrepancy in fouls.
North Carolina was whistled for just seven, the lowest for a Duke opponent this season. The Tar Heels also were called for just one foul in the second half. North Carolina is averaging the fewest fouls per game (14.5) in the ACC.
Duke was called for 15 fouls, with starting forward Patrick Ngongba II fouling out in just 16 minutes. Instead of complaining about the officiating, Duke head coach Jon Scheyer used the foul numbers to challenge his players to work harder.
“For me, I don’t know if I’ve been a part of a game where there’s one foul in a half. I thought we were attacking the paint. Clearly, our guys have to play stronger and play better through contact,” Scheyer said. “Let me be very clear, that is not the reason (Duke lost). It’s hard to win, though, if you’re not drawing fouls at all and we’re fouling out. Again, not at all why we lost, but that’s something we have to do a better job with.”
Duke again was led by freshman Cameron Boozer, who finished with 24 points and 11 rebounds for his 12th double-double of the season and seventh with at least 20 points. Boozer leads the ACC in scoring (23.3 points per game) and rebounding (10.0) this season.
“Get Cam downhill. You just know he’s going to make the right play,” Scheyer said. “Sometimes it goes in, sometimes it doesn’t. I’m taking what we got every day of the week, twice on Sunday.”
Recent meetings between Duke and Pitt (9-15, 2-9) have been family reunions of sorts. Pitt coach Jeff Capel was an All-ACC guard for the Blue Devils in the mid-1990s and spent seven seasons on Duke’s bench as an assistant to longtime coach Mike Krzyzewski.
Scheyer and Capel were on the Blue Devils’ staff together for four seasons.
This season, Capel’s eighth at the helm of the Panthers, has been a struggle. Pitt has its second-worst single-season winning percentage of his tenure at .375. The Panthers have lost nine of their last 11 games, most recently falling at home 86-67 to SMU on Saturday.
Pitt ranks 302nd in scoring with 70.8 points per game.
“For a team that’s struggling like we are, a lot of times guys get energy when they see the ball through the basket,” Capel said. “If it’s not going through the basket, it can drain the energy and suck the energy from them … and then that affects everything. That’s where we have to grow. That’s where our immaturity and inexperience really has to grow.”
Pitt leading scorer Brandin Cummings (12.5 points) has missed the past two games with an ankle injury. Cameron Corhen, who scored 15 points against SMU, delivers 12.3 points per game with a team-best 7.4 rebounds.
