Duke basketball has crashed out of March Madness with a 65-52 blowout loss to the Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday in the Round of 32, falling short of getting back to the Final Four. In the process, the Blue Devils reached a program low.
Their 52 points against Tennessee is tied for the fewest they've ever scored in the NCAA Tournament. Yikes.
Via CBS Sports:
Duke scored only 52 points vs. Tennessee which tied their fewest points scored EVER in an NCAA Tournament game pic.twitter.com/BXi0QnRA7K
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) March 18, 2023
That's brutal for Duke. Jon Scheyer's squad had serious issues scoring the rock, shooting under 30% from three-poit land and only getting to the line seven times, draining just four of their freebies. Outside of Jeremy Roach, Tyrese Proctor, and Kyle Filipowski, who combined for 42 points, there was little production.
While generating offense was clearly a big problem in this March Madness contest for the Blue Devils, they were also incredibly sloppy with the rock, coughing it up 14 times. That translated into 18 points for the Vols, who just frankly outplayed Duke. The ACC standouts couldn't handle Tennessee's physicality, either.
Aside from being eliminated, the Blue Devils' 10-game winning streak is over in frustrating fashion. To put the team's struggles into perspective, Scheyer's group averaged 72.6 PPG prior to the Big Dance. Needless to say, the rotation failed to step up when it mattered most.
The Volunteers now move on to the Sweet 16 and will face the winner of Florida Atlantic and FDU, who both pulled off upsets in the first round. Most notably, the Knights knocked off #1 Purdue in historic fashion on Friday evening.
As for Duke, it's back to the drawing board.
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