- The Blue Devils struggled with defensive rebounding and committed too many fouls, allowing Arizona extra scoring opportunities.
- Duke basketball had a season-worst defensive performance, allowing 90 or more points for the first time since the 2023-24 season.
NEWARK, N.J. — Kon Knueppel didn’t sugarcoat Duke basketball’s Sweet 16 defense against Arizona.
“I thought we sucked,” Knueppel said early Friday morning after the top-seeded Blue Devils edged out the Wildcats in a 100-93 NCAA Tournament shootout at Prudential Center.
After allowing an average of 61.7 points across its first 36 games, Duke (34-3) had a season-worst showing against Arizona (24-13). The Blue Devils hadn’t allowed more than 78 points this season. Duke hadn’t seen a team put up 90 or more points against it since giving up 93 in a loss at rival UNC in 2024.
“I thought Caleb Love was unbelievable. He played really, really well,” Knueppel said of Love, who finished with 35 points in his final March Madness game.
The Duke freshman, who finished with 20 points, then looked down at a box score inside Duke’s locker room, trying to find the number of offensive rebounds Arizona grabbed against the Blue Devils.
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
“Twelve,” Knueppel said. “That’s too many. We actually outrebounded them. We wanted to do that, but I thought we were piss poor defensively.”
FLAGG GOES OFF: Cooper Flagg, Duke basketball beat Arizona in March Madness, advance to NCAA Elite Eight
DUKE NCAA TOURNAMENT TICKETS: Duke basketball tickets in 2025 NCAA Tournament: Prices, how to buy for Elite Eight
Arizona didn’t make an overwhelming amount of shots, finishing at 45% for the game. But the Wildcats made 12 of 26 attempts (46%) from 3-point range and 21 of 23 free throws against the foul-plagued Devils.
Like Knueppel, veteran guard Sion James pointed to the offensive rebounding numbers and said Duke “fouled way too much,” but “found a way” to win.
“We weren’t great defensively. I’m not sure if we’ve given up 93 points all year,” James said. “Obviously, Arizona’s a really, really good team. A really high-scoring team, with some of the best, most talented players in the country. Sometimes it happens. It’s some of the controllable ones that we gotta fix.”
Tyrese Proctor, another one of Duke’s top perimeter defenders, felt the problem was more about Duke’s defense than Arizona’s offense.
“I think it’s us. We didn’t play our defense in that first half. Missed a lot of 50-50 balls, a lot of rebounds. Second half, they got out in transition when they came back and got it close,” Proctor said.
“We just gotta play our defense.”
The defensive numbers will have to improve against No. 2 seed Alabama (28-8), which scored 113 points in its Sweet 16 win against BYU and set a single-game NCAA Tournament record with 25 3-pointers.
The Crimson Tide, powered by the nation’s top-ranked tempo and fifth-year guard Mark Sears, are fourth in offensive efficiency according to KenPom’s metrics.
“I thought the whole game, there were some uncharacteristic plays that Arizona made us pay for,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said.
“And whether it’s just the discipline you have to have off the ball – some of the loose balls we didn’t come up with – I love the fact that we weren’t perfect, and you’re not going to be necessarily perfect in these games. Just to hang tough, look, they just put a ton of game pressure on us.”
With a Final Four berth on the line, the Blue Devils have to get back to their dominant defensive ways if they want to book a trip to San Antonio next week.
“We’ll watch a little feedback (Friday) morning on this game and then get right into Alabama,” Knueppel said. “They obviously have a high-powered offense. They play super fast, so we’ll get on that (Friday).”
Rodd Baxley covers Duke, North Carolina and N.C. State for The Fayetteville Observer as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his ACC coverage on X/Twitter or Bluesky: @RoddBaxley. Got questions regarding those teams? Send them to[email protected].
