Duke basketball upset by unranked Boston College for first loss of the season

Duke basketball lost to unranked Boston College, 89-84, to drop their first game of the season. Marvin Bagley had 15 points and 12 rebounds, but was never able to fully assert his dominance in a game where his teammates struggled to shoot the ball. On the other end, BC had its hottest shooting night from three-point range all season, knocking down 15-of-26 from the field. That spelled doom as Duke’s lackluster defense stayed that way against another inferior opponent.

Boston College’s guards were stellar

Jerome Robinson, Jordan Chatman and Ky Bowman were a combined 13-of-23 from three-point range, and finished with 75 points. Bowman alone scored 30, shooting his way to stop the Eagles’ 23 consecutive top-25 losses streak, and knock off No. 1.

That trio far outplayed Duke’s highly-regarded backcourt of Grayson Allen and Trevon Duval. Allen had just 14 points on 5-of-20 shooting, and Duval had 10 on 4-of-10 shooting. Allen was misfiring from everywhere, and missed the dagger shots we’re so accustomed to him making. Part of that may be because of the giant bruise on his cheek swelling after he got kneed to the face.

Gary Trent Jr. was the lone star who looked the part for Duke, scoring 25 points on 6-of-13 from three-point range.

Duke couldn’t use its height to bully BC

Opting to fire from distance, Duke never used its massive height advantage with 6’10 Wendell Carter and 6’11 Bagley how it would’ve liked. Bagley made a number of mistakes on the low-block, tossing away a crunch-time possession rather than squaring away and finishing over smaller talent. Carter’s 10 points mostly came off offensive boards, and he was never a focal point in the offense either.

Duke’s defense finally gave out

Though the Blue Devils have maybe the best assortment of talent in the nation, their defense has far underperformed for the entire season so far. On offense, Kenpom ranks its offense as the most efficient in the nation, but defensively they are a mere No. 51 overall. They’ve been able to escape with a number of close wins to mask the issue, but this problem was eventually going to have to be addressed. Now it will, and maybe just in time before it faces the real bullies of the ACC conference.