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Duke Basketball: 3 takeaways from Blue Devils victory over Coppin State

By Matthew Travis

Mar 7, 2020; Durham, North Carolina, USA; A general overview of the Duke Blue Devils bench prior to a game against the North Carolina Tar Heels at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rob Kinnan-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 7, 2020; Durham, North Carolina, USA; A general overview of the Duke Blue Devils bench prior to a game against the North Carolina Tar Heels at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rob Kinnan-USA TODAY Sports /
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Duke Basketball (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
Duke Basketball (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /

Duke Must Work on their Turnover Problem

Duke beat Coppin State by only 10 points with a final score of 81-71, maybe the largest reason why the game was so close was due to the fact that the Blue Devils had an astounding 22 turnovers.

Despite his impressive debut, Jalen Johnson accounted for seven of these turnovers, the most by a single player for the Blue Devils. Behind Johnson, Wendell Moore, Jeremy Roach, and Jordan Goldwire each accounted for three, with the rest of the Blue Devils making up for the other six.

This is a massive problem and had Duke not been playing a team like Coppin State, they just might’ve lost their first game of the season. The good news is they were playing Coppin State, but their next game is against the currently 13th ranked Michigan State Spartans.

Michigan State is 2-0 and like the Blue Devils also struggled in their first game of the season, beating Eastern Michigan by only 16 while committing 18 turnovers themselves. The Spartans also struggled in their second game of the season, beating a bad team in Notre Dame by only 10 points, while committing 12 turnovers.

That being said, Tuesday’s game could go any number of ways as it appears both teams have struggled to start the season and struggle with turnovers as well. One thing is for sure though, if Duke commits 22 turnovers as they did against Coppin State, Tuesday’s game and many after it, will not go the way they hope.

Duke simply looked sloppy on Saturday making bad passes and fumbling the ball on numerous occasions. This could be in part due to the fact that Duke hasn’t played since March and it was their first game of the season, plus this offseason was so much different because of COVID-19, but there isn’t an excuse for a total of 22 turnovers.

I would fully expect this to change in the near future, and if it doesn’t, well Duke is going to be in a lot of trouble.

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