Hurley’s return to Duke ends in an exhibition blowout loss – but with plenty of love, too

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Bobby Hurley made himself college basketball royalty inside Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium, the Jersey kid who became the All-America point guard for two national championship teams.

Moments from that journey — having his jersey retired, tense tussles with rival North Carolina, love overflowing from the Blue Devils’ famously rowdy home crowd — remained pristine in his memory. He wanted nothing to change those vibes three decades later, and that’s why he couldn’t help but feel some trepidation about his return Sunday night on Cameron’s opposing sideline with Arizona State in a charity exhibition game.

The good news was he found open arms awaiting him.

The bad? His Sun Devils were treated as rudely on the court by the seventh-ranked Blue Devils as he had seen so many visitors from his own playing days, at times leaving him helplessly calling timeouts to stop Duke’s romping second-half momentum in the 103-47 loss.

“All the other stuff was outstanding,” Hurley said with a frustrated chuckle. “It’s just, sometimes you should leave well enough alone or something. That’s why I never wanted to come back here. … We used to do this to everybody. It was a tough night, tough night.”

Indeed, the 53-year-old Hurley — who played his final game at Duke in 1993 under now-retired Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski — was left in the awkward position of savoring emotions stirred from his Duke return yet being flustered by Arizona State’s performance in a game he said was “littered with failure” for a team picked to finish 12th in the expanded 16-team Big 12.

“Hat’s off to where (the Blue Devils) are,” Hurley said, “and oh (expletive) about where we are.”

The primary purpose of the “Brotherhood Run” game was to benefit the Duke Children’s Hospital, but the chance to reconnect with one of the program’s favored sons in Hurley became its own draw. The slender 6-footer still cuts a significant figure in Duke lore, from his No. 11 jersey hanging in the rafters…

Source link : https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/hurleys-return-duke-ends-exhibition-024855264.html

Author : The Canadian Press

Publish date : 2024-10-28 02:48:00

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