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While hosting longtime cross-country rival Duke for the first time in nearly 34 years, the Arizona Wildcats had all the peripheral help they could have asked for: A rowdy sold out crowd, white-out atmosphere, and former standout players lining the south baseline.
They had everything, except, well, offense. Or rebounding. And enough defense to make up for those shortfalls.
In a 69-55 loss to Duke on Friday, the Wildcats shot just 39.6% from the field, hit only 6 of 23 3-pionters, made it to the free throw line just 11 times – and were outrebounded 43-30.
Basically, Duke was just better, across the board. Freshman phenom Cooper Flagg led Duke with 24 points on 10-for-22 shooting while Kon Knueppel added 11 points and seven rebounds. The Blue Devils shot only 42.6% but hit 9 of 24 3-pointers (37.5%) and scored 14 second-chance points off 13 offensive rebounds.
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The loss dropped 17th-ranked Arizona to 2-2 while 12th-ranked Duke improved to 4-1.
It also completed an unusual home-and-home series in which each team won on the other’s homecourt, after the Wildcats beat the Blue Devils 78-73 at Durham, N.C. early last season.
Combined with their 103-88 loss at Wisconsin on Nov. 15, it was the first time the Wildcats have lost back-to-back games in three-plus seasons under coach Tommy Lloyd, breaking that streak of 11 games. Arizona is now a combined 90-22 under Lloyd, always having previously followed a loss by at least one win.
Leading the Arizona Wildcats
Jaden Bradley led Arizona with 18 points and KJ Lewis added 12, while preseason all-American Caleb Love had eight points and made just 1 of 9 3-pointers.
Down by up to 13 points early in the second half, the Wildcats managed to rally in part because Love hit his first 3-pointer with 10:52 left to cut it to 46-38. Love had hit just 1 of 6 shots before that, and none of his first four 3s.
Flagg and Lewis traded 3s around the eight minute…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/duke-blue-devils-roll-over-060611955.html
Author : AZCentral | The Arizona Republic
Publish date : 2024-11-23 06:06:00
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