St. John’s ended an 11-game losing streak with its 81-77 win over the Blue Devils.
Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski couldn’t offer any explanation for why the No. 5 Blue Devils played so poorly in their 81-77 loss to St. John’s on Saturday at Madison Square Garden.
The unranked Red Storm was riding an 11-game losing streak and came back from a seven-point halftime deficit to go up on Duke by as many as 11 points in the second half before holding on for the win. St. John’s is currently 10th in the Big East, while Duke is second in the ACC.
The Blue Devils – who briefly had the lead with less than two minutes left – shot slightly better from the field (47.1 percent over 46.2 percent), but St. John’s had them beat behind the arc.
After the game, Krzyzewski didn’t know how to explain what just happened.
Coach K press conference #Herecomesduke https://t.co/kxY1eeEzGL
“I do not know why. I can tell you that that’s not the group that I’ve coached all year. They were a very frustrating group to coach today because they didn’t respond to anything, until the last eight minutes. And that’s unacceptable. That is unacceptable. You have to respond while it’s going on – at halftime, at a timeout. You have got to respond, and when you don’t, you’re into your into your own stuff, for whatever reason that is. Maybe you’re not ready, you’re sick, you’re whatever. You’ve gotta give it up. We didn’t give it up.
“And the team that was deserving of winning won, and it made the loss – because we came back – all the more frustrating. But the basketball gods understand, in most cases, who should win, so losing when you had a chance to win after not playing well, we got what we deserved. We got what we deserved.”
When asked if there were any positives Duke could take away from the game, Krzyzewski said the team just needs to move on.
“Sometimes you have to look horrible to get better,” he said.
Read more over at USA TODAY Sports.
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