NBA News NBA News, Match Reports and Updates 
[ad_1]
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.
“Twelve,” Knueppel said. “That’s too many. We actually outrebounded them. We wanted to do that, but I thought we were piss poor defensively.”
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…
[ad_2]Source link : https://www.fayobserver.com/story/sports/college/acc/2025/03/28/duke-basketball-defense-alabama-ncaa-tournament-elite-8/82638360007/
Author :
Publish date : 2025-03-28 12:18:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
