GREENVILLE, S.C. — Three days of hard practices were important for No. 9 Duke.
A few gentle reminders, aimed at adjusting how the Blue Devils feel about their defensive performance, could be the key to their chances of advancing through the NCAA tournament.
“I really just think, overall, it’s a mindset for us that we had early in the year, just really having something to prove,” Duke freshman forward Paolo Banchero said Thursday.
On Friday, Duke begins NCAA tournament play against Big West champion Cal State Fullerton at Bon Secours Wellness Arena.
Seeded No. 2 in the West Region (28-6), the Blue Devils have the talent and accomplishments this season to harbor hopes of a deep run through the tournament.
But a decline in Duke’s quality of play on defense, marked the team’s 2-2 record over the last four games. North Carolina scored more points against Duke than anyone else this season in beating the Blue Devils 94-81 at Cameron Indoor Stadium March 5.
Last Saturday, Virginia Tech joined UNC as the only four teams to score 80 points or more against Duke when the Hokies won 82-67 in the ACC tournament championship game.
It wasn’t always this way. Duke was among the nation’s top 20 teams in Ken Pomeroy’s defensive efficiency ratings as recently as Feb. 14.
All Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski had to do as a reminder was have the team review its Nov. 26 performance in beating Gonzaga, 84-81, in Las Vegas. The Zags (26-3), the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament and the West Region, lead the nation in offensive efficiency at 1.21 points per possession. The Blue Devils limited Gonzaga to 1.03 that night at T-Mobile Arena.
So it’s in there. Duke just has to rediscover it, which Banchero said was a mindset.
“Overall, our communication hasn’t been as good as it was early in the year,” Banchero said. “That was just a big thing in practice that we were stressing during the week is everybody got to be talking, everybody got to be loud, commanding each other, holding each other accountable because I feel like we got away from that later in the year, and it showed on the defensive end with our defensive intensity and stuff like that.”
Krzyzewski said Thursday that communication, while not everything in fixing his team’s play, is the majority of it.
“If there were 10 steps to get back to defense, communication would be the first five because it’s the life blood,” Krzyzewski said. “No matter how hard you play individually, if you — it’s five playing as one. Communication is the life blood of a good defensive team. It also produces an element of trust on the court.”
Duke’s man-to-man defense involves switching who the Blue Devils guard all over the court to limit how effective the offense’s screens can be. That communication is key to Duke being effective in its plan.
The Blue Devils also know strong defense can help fuel their offense. All that working together would put Duke in position to keep winning this month.
“This week was a great week of practice,” Duke junior forward Wendell Moore said. “It’s been a huge week mainly focusing on the defensive end. Getting more pressure on the ball, forcing a lot of live ball turnovers, just so we can really get into our offense easier. It’s been a great week. Definitely feel like our guys got better and also got a lot closer this week.”
