Observations: Duke 84, Auburn 78
“We played OK. But to beat Duke in here, you've got to play better than that." In this one, the Tigers took a loss — and some lessons.
(Zach Bland/Auburn Tigers)
DURHAM, N.C. — There was no doubt that Auburn was ready for what could end up being its toughest game of the season.
Auburn raced out to a 13-2 lead on Duke, scoring on its first five possessions and only giving up a bucket on the other end once. Duke called a quick timeout, and Cameron Indoor Stadium started echoing like Neville Arena with the extremely loud Auburn fans that made the trip.
But, again, this is Cameron Indoor Stadium. It’s one of the most daunting venues in all of American sports for a visiting team.
A lot of that has to do with the talent level of Duke. The Blue Devils have four 5-star freshmen at their disposal, including potential No. 1 overall NBA Draft pick Cooper Flagg. They also can turn to several experienced weapons that help make them the tallest team in the country — and one that has the nation’s best defense right now.
Still, the shiny hardwood in Cameron has a way of feeling like its tilted against the visiting sideline. The bounces don’t go your way. The whistles don’t go your way. The 50/50 balls don’t go your way.
Take, for example, a buzzer-beating prayer of a 3-pointer going down instead of the play easily turning into a potential game-tying runout off of a turnover.
Auburn never got within four points after that unfortunate scramble. It got a series of clean offensive looks like that all rimmed out, and the Tigers ultimately fell to the Blue Devils by six for their first loss of what has been a red-hot start to the season.
“We're disappointed, obviously,” Bruce Pearl said afterwards. “We played OK. But to beat Duke in here, you've got to play better than that. I give them all the credit.”
The visitors never let the game get too far out of hand, coming up with rallies and answers of their own every time that Duke got rolling. That’s valuable, even though it ultimately didn’t result in a win.
“It was definitely something that was good, knowing that we had a chance to come back and take the lead,” freshman guard Tahaad Pettiford said. “Just wasn't enough for us.”
Yes, the Tigers will feel like they could have played a much better game against the Blue Devils. The visiting team knew it needed that kind of performance, after all, because of all those things that often go the home team’s direction here.
“I hope what (the players) take is we did not play our A-game,” Pearl said. “We probably played a B-minus game. Duke had a lot to do with it. But we've got to leave here thinking that we should've played better, turned them over more, not gotten beat on the boards as much as we did, and we get out of here with a win.
“So, I think the stuff that we didn't do, I think we can control.”
Here are four Observations from Auburn’s 84-78 loss at Duke on Wednesday in Durham, along with the Rotation Charts, Nerd Stats and the Quote of the Night.
“Our defense let us down.”
The headline matchup in this game was what KenPom called — and is still calling — the nation’s No. 1 offense (Auburn) and the nation’s No. 1 defense (Duke).
But the result was ultimately defined by what happened on the other side.