Blue Devil downer: 3 takeaways from Duke basketball’s puzzling home loss to Pitt

DURHAM, N.C. — No. 7 Duke played without two of its starters due to injuries, and Pittsburgh’s Blake Hinson made the Blue Devils hurt even more.

Hinson scored 24 points, making all seven of his 3-point attempts, as the Panthers upset Duke, 80-76, Saturday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

The Blue Devils (13-4, 4-2 ACC) saw their eight-game winning streak halted as neither senior guard Jeremy Roach nor sophomore forward Mark Mitchell were in uniform. Both players have knee injuries.

Their absences, along with Hinson’s dead-eye shooting, caused the Blue Devils to lose to the same Pitt team they defeated 75-53 in Pittsburgh just 11 nights earlier.

The result didn’t sit well with Duke coach Jon Scheyer, who saw his team drop an ACC home game for the first time in his two seasons as head coach.

Hinson celebrated the win and his team’s accomplishment by standing on the press table in front Duke’s student section to taunt the Cameron Crazies who had derided him throughout the game. Many made obscene one-fingered hand gestures back to Hinson.

Pitt's Blake Hinson did what every player visiting Duke has dreamed of doing to the Cameron Crazies. ???? pic.twitter.com/BBsRSa2iPw

— College Sports Only (@CollegeSportsO) January 21, 2024

Scheyer apologized to Duke’s fans for his team putting an opponent in position to celebrate like that.

“I want to apologize to our fans, by the way, for what happened at the end,” Scheyer said. “That can’t happen and that’s on us and that’s unacceptable.”

Hinson tied an ACC record by taking seven 3-pointers and making them all in a single game. No player had ever accomplished that feat at Duke’s famed home arena. The only other time it’s happened in an ACC game was Jan. 27, 2018, when NC State’s Allerik Freeman was 7-for-7 on 3-pointers as the Wolfpack won 95-91 in overtime at North Carolina..

Pitt (11-7, 2-5 ACC) shot 50.8% overall while making 10 of its 20 3-pointers against Duke

Jaland Lowe added 17 points for the Panthers while Ishmael Leggett scored 11. Lowe’s 3-pointer with 42.9 seconds left gave Pitt a 75-71 lead and Duke never had the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead the rest of the game.

Freshman guard Jared McCain scored 20 points for Duke, which trailed by as many as 11 points in the first half. The Blue Devils never led by more than a single point in the second half.

Duke’s final lead came when Kyle Filipowski scored and added a free throw for a 65-64 Blue Devils lead with 7:04 to play.

But Hinson drilled a 3-pointer with 6:35 to play, as the shot clock expired, to put the Panthers in front for good.

Filipowski scored 19 points while freshman guard Caleb Foster had 16 points and Tyrese Proctor 11 for Duke, which shot 45.8%.

"It was really disrespectful what they did so you know we're going to have to take that with a grain of salt and remember that for next time whenever anyone steps in the building again."

Kyle Filipowski shares his thoughts on the way Pitt celebrated their win at #Duke tonight. pic.twitter.com/3JvW2KQqWX

— Jordan Crammer (@JordanCrammer) January 21, 2024

It’s the first win for Pitt at Cameron Indoor Stadium since 1979 and, thus, the first win as an opposing coach for former Duke player and assistant coach Jeff Capel, Pitt’s coach since 2018, in Durham.

Here are three takeaways from the game:

Blue Devils struggle on boards

Duke entered Saturday night’s game having lost the rebounding battle in three of its previous four games and, without Mitchell and his 5.6 rebounds per game average, the Blue Devils weren’t strong in that area again against Pitt.

After holding a 20-10 rebounding edge at halftime, the Panthers finished with a 32-25 rebounding advantage

“Rebounding a lot of the time comes down to will and mindset, and we didn’t have that,” Scheyer said.

Duke didn’t secure its first offensive rebound of the game until the final three seconds of the first half when TJ Power secured the ball and scored after a Proctor missed 3-pointer.

That’s a big difference for Duke compared to its previous game with Pittsburgh on Jan. 9. That night at Pitt, Duke gained a 42-26 rebounding advantage on the way to an easy 75-53 win.

“I thought they were just tougher and more aggressive than us tonight,” said Duke center Ryan Young, who had six points and four rebounds in 25 minutes of play.

Duke interior defense lacking

Mitchell’s absence showed up in rebounding and in how many points the Panthers scored inside. Pitt tallied 32 points in the paint compared to Duke’s 18.

That’s despite the fact that Duke went with two bigs most of the second half, as Young started the half in place of guard Jaylen Blakes to team with Filipowski inside.

Big (literally) recruit in town

Khaman Maluach, a 7-foot-2, 235-pound center from the NBA Academy Africa in Senegal, traveled to frigid Durham to sit behind the Duke bench for Saturday night’s game.

A prospect for the Class of 2024, he holds a UCLA scholarship offer in addition to Duke. could also choose to go the professional route.

The 17-year-old Maluach also plays for the South Sudan national team.

Duke seeks to add Maluach to the nation’s No. 1-ranked recruiting class that already includes 6-9 forward Cooper Flagg, 6-8 forward Isaiah Evans, 6-5 forward Kon Knueppel, 6-6 forward Darren Harris and 6-11 center Patrick Ngongba.

Harris sat with Maluach behind the Duke bench during the game.