Duke Basketball: 3 takeaways from bounceback win over Notre Dame Fighting Irish

3. Best effort from Blue Devils all season

When a key player goes down with an injury, there are a number of different reactions a team can have. The less-talented ones can crater due to the loss of production, while others struggle without their physical or emotional leader. But for a team like Duke that has plenty of individual talent, the injury to Johnson had one positive side effect, which was getting their attention.

Let’s face it. Duke didn’t look good in the first four games. But most concerning was the lack of intensity in the Michigan State and Illinois games once they were down. The lack of defense and poor shot selection was signs of an immature team still in the growing pains of the early part of the season.

What the Johnson news did was put clear pressure on a team that was a loss away from being unranked. And now in ACC play, Duke can’t afford any bad losses if they want to win its first regular-season title in a decade. In this game, they came out much sharper, took quality shots, and had just eight turnovers on the night.

On the defensive end, the Blue Devils shut down just down everyone outside of Dane Goodwin, who went for 25 points on 10-12 shooting. Forward Nate Laszewski had his lowest-scoring outing of seven points, while guard Cormack Ryan went 1/7 from the field. It was by far the best all-around outing for guards Jeremy Roach and DJ Steward, who combined to score 30 points on 5/7 shooting from deep while playing solid defense.

The Blue Devils got a 13-day break before their next opponent in the Pittsburgh Panthers. The winner of that game will be 2-0 in the ACC. Even without Jalen Johnson, Duke showed that they’ll be able to handle things and remain a force to be reckoned with.