Licking their wounds after suffering their first Atlantic Coast Conference loss of the season, No. 3 Duke aims to get back in the win column on Wednesday night when it hosts Cal in Durham, N.C.
The Blue Devils (20-3, 12-1 ACC) still have a firm grip on the top spot in the standings even after losing 77-71 at Clemson on Saturday, which snapped a 16-game win streak for Duke and marked its first true road loss of the season.
Duke led the Tigers with 58 seconds to go following a 3-pointer from freshman phenom Cooper Flagg, but Clemson scored the game’s final seven points. Flagg had the chance to retake the lead for Duke with 14 seconds left, but slipped on a wet spot on the floor as he was driving and turned it over.
Flagg didn’t use the slick floor as the reason why Duke lost the game.
“Our game plan, I didn’t think we stuck to it quite as well as we should have,” Flagg said. “We weren’t really there tonight. We didn’t do our jobs. It’s hard to win the battle down low, boxing out, rebounding, giving up a ton of second-chance opportunities.”
Indeed, Clemson outscored Duke in the paint 40-22 and won the rebounding battle 36-23. In two of Duke’s three losses this season — to the Tigers and Kansas Jayhawks — they were outrebounded and outscored in the paint.
Flagg leads Duke in rebounding with 7.7 per game this season, while fellow freshman Khaman Maluach, who stands at 7-foot-2, grabs 6.0 per game. Maluach was limited to just 20 minutes against Clemson before fouling out.
Rebounding could continue to be a concern for the Blue Devils against Cal (12-12, 5-8), which leads the ACC in offensive rebounds per game with 13.4 — 26th best in the nation entering Tuesday.
The Golden Bears have lost three of their last four games, but did win the rebounding battle (32-26) in their 76-66 loss to Wake Forest on Saturday
“We’ve got to control the turnovers, especially the live ball turnovers,” Cal coach Mark Madsen said. “The biggest thing I’ve seen that’s correctable is taking care of the basketball.”
Mady Sissoko leads Cal on the boards with 7.0 per game, while Andrej Stojakovic averages 4.5 rebounds along with a team-high 17.9 points per game. Stojakovic, son of a former NBA All-Star, is seventh in scoring in the ACC this season while Duke’s Flagg is second with 19.5 points per game.
Stojakovic had 10 points, six rebounds and three assists in the loss to Wake, which was his second game back in action after missing more than two weeks with an injury.
The Golden Bears are making their first visit to Cameron Indoor Stadium. Cal hasn’t beaten a Top 10 team on the road since 2013, and it hasn’t beaten Duke since 1993 when Jason Kidd fueled an NCAA Tournament upset.
–Field Level Media
