Here are five reasons why No. 1 Duke lost to Boston College

No. 1 Duke is undefeated no more after losing its first game of the season Saturday against Boston College 89-84.

So why did Duke lose?

It wasn’t just one thing. There were a number of things that contributed to Duke’s (11-1, 0-1 ACC) loss, including that Boston College (7-3, 1-0 ACC) played well. But here are some more reasons why Duke lost:

Too many quick shots, not enough Bagley

Time and time again, whenever Duke found itself down in previous games, the Blue Devils went to the player who couldn’t be stopped, Marvin Bagley III.

Bagley is almost automatic when he gets the ball within a few feet of the basket. And if he misses it, he usually quickly puts it back in before the defender can finish contesting the first shot. But instead of doing what it does best – pounding the ball inside – Duke, at times, settled for shots it didn’t need to take.

With 3 minutes left in the game, Duke had the ball and a chance to go up by six points. Instead of finding Bagley inside, freshman guard Trevon Duval, who is not a great 3-point shooter (17 percent), settled for a 3. Boston College had switched to a zone defense at that point and did a good job of packing the lane to keep Bagley from getting the ball.

However, there were still 15 seconds left on the shot clock when Duval took the shot. The shot missed, and Boston College’s Jerome Robinson scored a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession. That 3-pointer, with 2:41 left in the game, brought Boston College within one point of Duke.

Duke tried to get the ball to Bagley on its next two possessions and turned the ball over both times – one was a bad pass from Allen, and the other, a bad pass from Bagley.

Boston College then went down court and found Robinson for an open 3-pointer that put the Eagles up by two points.

Bagley, who finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds, was 1-for-4 in the second half. He attempted only one two-point field goal in the second half and scored only five points.

Grayson Allen went cold

Allen, Duke’s second leading scorer at 17.5 points per game, went scoreless over the last nine minutes of the game. He missed all five shots he took, including a few that would have either tied the game or put Duke up by a point. Allen has been clutch this season for Duke.

He scored a career-high 37 points in a win over Michigan State on Nov. 14 and hit a step-back 3-pointer against Indiana on Nov. 29 that helped the Blue Devils win that game.

Allen finished the game with 14 points Saturday, but was 5-for-20 from the floor and 1-for-9 from behind the 3-point line.

The nation’s best rebounding team out-rebounded?

Rebounding has been Duke’s biggest strength this season. Prior to Saturday’s game, Duke led the nation in rebounding (46.5 rpg). Boston College was missing its top rebounder, Deontae Hawkins (9.1 rpg). Hawkins tore his ACL last week.

Yet, the Eagles grabbed more rebounds than the Blue Devils, 35-34. Ten of Boston College’s 35 rebounds were offensive and led to 15 second-chance points.

It was the first time all season Duke has been out-rebounded.

Duke couldn’t stop Boston College from 3

The Eagles went 11-for-16 from the 3-point line in the first half. Every time they shot it from deep, there seemed to be an expectation that the shot would go in. And most of the time, it did, especially if it came off the hands of Robinson (24 points), sophomore Ky Bowman (30 points) or junior Jordan Chatman(22 points).

The Eagles didn’t shoot the 3 in the second half as much as they did the first half, but they still shot well. They finished the game shooting 57.7 percent (15-for-26) from behind the 3-point line.

A few of the 3-pointers Boston College took were contested. Robinson, a Raleigh native, finished a perfect 5-for-5 from behind the 3-point line. But more often than not, they were uncontested, because of either a bad rotation by Duke, or a player couldn’t recover fast enough after playing help defense. It all comes down to being a sound defensive team.

And Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said after the game on Saturday that Duke is not a good defensive team right now.

Bench must step up

Outside of sophomore forward Javin DeLaurier, who finished with 8 points and 5 rebounds, no one on Duke’s bench really made an impact. They also didn’t get much playing time. Marques Bolden scored 2 points in 8 minutes of action.

Alex O’Connell played only 2 minutes of the game. Jordan Goldwire made a very brief appearance. But this isn’t really new. Against the top teams, outside of usually one bench player per game, Duke hasn’t been able to generate points from its bench. The majority of its points have come from its starting five.

Where these particular bench players tend to make their impact is on the defensive end.

But it was this game, when some of its best players were off, Duke could have used a spark off its bench.

This story was originally published December 10, 2017 at 1:55 PM with the headline "Here are five reasons why No. 1 Duke lost to Boston College."