Jon Scheyer addresses lack of effort against North Carolina, promises better

Duke fell to rival North Carolina on the road Saturday night in a 93-84 loss highlighted by a highly energetic performance by the Tar Heels, as their players fed off of the sold out crowd in the Smith Center.

Statistically, both teams made 50% of their shots from the field, with the Tar Heels securing just one more rebound than the Blue Devils. But it was clear that North Carolina played with more energy and effort compared to Duke, which Blue Devils’ head coach Jon Scheyer was asked about following the loss.

“I don’t know, if I knew right now I wish I would have done something about it and we just didn’t come out with that,” Scheyer said interrupting himself. “Look in this game, any game, when you play on the road or whoever you’re playing, a really good team, you can make some mistakes. You can be a little tight at times and both teams have seen that for 15 years in this game, all that’s normal. But what’s not normal is to not lay it all on the line the way that you need to.”

“And so for me as a coach I want to watch the film, digest, and get some answers. But I can promise you this isn’t going to be a thing we continue to do. This is gonna be a one time thing for me and get back to it on Monday practice and get ready for our game on Wednesday and compete our butts off.”

Scheyer’s frustration was clear after the game, disappointed with the effort his team played with on Saturday night. He’s more than familiar with the stakes of the Duke versus UNC rivalry, spending four seasons on Duke’s team as a player and eight on the team’s staff before becoming the head coach ahead of the 2022 season.

But the successor of legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski took responsibility for the performance of his team, taking onus while expressing a heightened level of focus on Monday’s practice following the loss.

“I have to be on them and get back to it on Monday. At the end of the day when I say this, this is my responsibility, this is our responsibility. But you have to compete, you still have to bring it and for us we have to get back to work in practice on Monday,” Scheyer said.

“I know the teams I’ve played on, coached on, the team the last year and a half, we compete. We compete, we show up, tonight wasn’t the level it should be. We gotta learn from it like we do every game, take responsibility. That includes coaches, that includes players, and get back to work on Monday. It takes what it takes, you have to put the work in, you have to get back to it, and that’s it.”

The Tar Heels led by as many as 15 points on Saturday, playing with an active pace and constantly hustling causing 11 turnovers and scoring 19 points on those takeaways.

But based on Scheyer’s words, the Blue Devils effort will not be questioned again moving forward this season. Which could be bad news for their next opponent, as Duke faces a Notre Dame team on Wednesday that currently ranks last in the ACC with just two conference wins on the season.