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DURHAM — After Saturday’s 83-76 win over St. John’s, Duke won’t play another non-ACC team until the NCAA Tournament.
Just what seed the Blue Devils will receive for that tournament will depend on how they respond to an uninspiring performance in their final nonconference game of the regular season.
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski did not hide his exasperation with his team’s lackluster play, which allowed St. John’s to nearly erase all of Duke’s 22-point, second-half lead.
To Krzyzewski, it was another example of his team taking it easy on an opponent because it could.
“I didn’t like today,” Krzyzewski said Saturday, “and if my team doesn’t like today, then we’ll get better. If my team is OK about today, then we’re going to fight, because I’m not going to change.”
Duke’s players will have a few days to implement any changes in their attitude and style of play. The Blue Devils are off until playing Virginia Tech on Thursday night (7 p.m., ESPN) in the first of 10 consecutive ACC games to close the regular season.
Even though they are ranked No. 8 in the country, own an 18-3 overall record and are tied for first in the ACC at 5-1, the Blue Devils know there’s plenty to improve upon. Their defensive effort has been inconsistent all season and that area was one of Krzyzewski’s biggest areas of complaint against St. John’s.
“We didn’t play defense in the second half,” Krzyzewski said. “It was like an AAU game in the second half: `You run, you score, I score. Oop, I’m not scoring. It’s nine points. Oop.’ It’s not an AAU game any more. We don’t have three more games today, where it doesn’t matter if we win or lose.”
Duke freshman Austin Rivers believes the Blue Devils are settling and said that approach needs to change.
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“We’re settling,” Rivers said. “I think that’s the biggest word for us.”
Krzyzewski described Duke’s players as focusing on offense first and defense second. The Blue Devils do have a talented offensive team, which is why they are second in the ACC and No. 12 in the country with a scoring average of 80.2 points per game.
Duke is also among the top 15 in the country in field-goal shooting (49.2 percent).
That all sounds good. But Duke junior forward Ryan Kelly, one of the team’s three captains this season, said it has led to his team taking a lax approach to defense.
“When we’re playing good offense, our defense does well,” Kelly said. “That’s not how it can be to beat really good teams. We just need our defense to step up. Some needs to change.”
Duke has shown defensive prowess in stretches this season, but haven’t been consistent.
That’s why 223 Division I teams are better in terms of scoring defense and opponent’s field goal percentage this season than Duke.
Krzyzewski pointed out how well the team played defensively in the second half of its 61-58 win over Virginia on Jan. 12 and in the first half of the Jan. 22 game with Florida State. The Seminoles had only 26 first-half points that day, but scored 50 in the second half to win 76-73.
After the first eight minutes of an 81-74 win at Maryland last Wednesday, Duke adjusted the way it defended against ball screens to shut down the Terrapins.
However, another regression occurred against St. John’s and a simple tactical adjustment doesn’t sound like it will be the answer.
“We have to be able to put teams away,” Duke junior forward Mason Plumlee said, “and we aren’t going to be a really good team until we start doing that.”
