Mike Krzyzewski calls out star player, team offense following Virginia loss

Duke had been on a roll coming into Monday night’s ACC matchup against Virginia. The Blue Devils were riding a five-game win streak, sitting at 19-3 overall on the season and up to a No. 7 ranking in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.

Despite all of that, Virginia had plans to pull off an upset – and that’s exactly what the Cavaliers did, earning a 69-68 win over the Blue Devils at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham. Duke held a 68-66 lead with just seven seconds to go, but Reece Beekman made a late 3-pointer to send Virginia out on top.

While Duke dug itself into an early 10-point hole and trailed 34-29 at halftime, Blue Devils’ star Paolo Banchero struggled throughout the night – scoring just nine points on 3-of-9 shooting. He took just one total shot in the second half, which was a 3-pointer as time expired.

Following the Blue Devils’ loss, head coach Mike Krzyzewski was asked what Virginia was doing to keep Banchero from taking shots and getting going.

“He’s touching the ball,” Krzyzewski said of Banchero. “He needs to take more shots, and he needs to take his jump shot. He needs to take his jump shot. With him, when he does get the ball, a lot of double teams. There’s a lot of double teams. So then you’ve gotta pass out of it – and we’ve gotta hit shots. If we hit shots, they don’t double team. I mean, that’s part of making those adjustments.”

After the setback against Virginia, Duke returns to action Thursday on the road at Clemson. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET on the ACC Network.

Hubert Davis gives high praise to Duke compared to the rest of country

North Carolina basketball coach Hubert Davis believes Duke presents a challenge few others teams in the country do. In his postgame press conference following a 87-67 loss to the Blue Devils, Davis was extremely complimentary of freshmen Paolo Banchero and AJ Griffin.

“There is a number of talented teams in the country and Duke is one of them,” the coach said. “Paolo, his ability from an offensive standpoint to create his shot not only for himself, but for his teammates on the perimeter or in the post is something that very few teams in the country have. AJ is in a really nice rhythm now not only shooting the ball from 3, but being able to get into his spots. He’s a big wing. He’s athletic and he can get to his spots any time. Both of those guys are really good. They have a really good basketball team.”

Banchero and Griffin combined for 40 points in the victory against the Tar Heels on Saturday. The two freshman phenoms are projected top 10 picks in the upcoming NBA draft according to CBS Sports’ Kyle Boone. Griffin in particular has been on a tear of late, averaging 16.4 points over the past five games. That is well above his season average of 9.9.

On3’s Chandler Vessels contributed to this report.