Duke basketball fans weren’t sure exactly what head coach Jon Scheyer drew up for the potential go-ahead possession in the final seconds against Kansas on Tuesday, but they could tell it didn’t turn out the way he envisioned.
With the Blue Devils trailing the Jayhawks 73-72 with less than 20 seconds on the board, Duke freshman [autotag]Kon Knueppel[/autotag] held the ball at the top of the key. He scanned for a moment before breaking toward the basket, but he never generated any space from the Kansas defense. He spun around for a potential floater, but two arms rose with him to contest the look, and his ensuing desperation pass gave the ball back to the Jayhawks.
When Scheyer spoke to the media after the game, he made a similar case to the one he made after the Kentucky Wildcats loss earlier in the season: who had the ball mattered more than what he drew up.
“Kon and Cooper (Flagg), they had a great two-man game and they were making plays the whole second half,” Scheyer said. “(Kansas was) getting messed up with the switching, whether they were switching or not, and we were looking to get Kon downhill or right back to Cooper and then he’d be downhill.”
While Knueppel made just four of his 14 shots (and none of his eight 3-point attempts), he still finished with 11 points and eight assists. After Kansas held Flagg to two points on two shots in the opening half, the freshman phenom scored 11 after the break to finish with 13.
“End of the day, I feel as a coach, you want the ball in your best player’s hands,” Scheyer concluded. “Kon and Cooper made so many plays throughout the whole second half…I’m taking the ball in their hands any day of the week. We just have to execute better.”