Duke Basketball: 3 takeaways from disappointing loss at Louisville

2. Free-throws were the difference-maker between Louisville and Duke

This may be the most obvious observation possible about Duke, but it cannot be stated enough just how badly the Blue Devils need to add the charity stripe to their arsenal – and how many times the lack of it has cost them games.

Against Louisville, that much is true.  The Blue Devils outscored the Cardinals from the floor – but lost at the free-throw line, going just 7-9 while the Cardinals were an overwhelming 18-24.  Unfortunately, that has not been a one-time thing for Duke – it has been the theme of their season.

In Duke’s 10 games, they have made more trips to the free-throw line than the opposing team on just two occasions, against Michigan State and Boston College.  Notably, their play at the charity stripe is what led them to victory against BC – the Eagles outscored the Blue Devils from the floor, but Duke won the game from the line.

Other than those two times, however, the Blue Devils have not experienced much success whatsoever on freebies.  In all, the Blue Devils have gone 99-147 from the line, a 67.3% mark that ranks 257th in Div. I.  Contrarily, they have allowed teams to go 145-207 from the charity stripe.  For what it is worth: the Blue Devils have just two more free-throw attempts than opponents’ makes.

It is not necessarily that the Blue Devils do not play inside.  They do take a lot of three-pointers – entering the game against Louisville, they ranked 86th in three-point attempts – but they also rank 107th in two-point attempts, and were 17-29 inside against the Cardinals.  Likewise, the Blue Devils actually outscored Louisville in points in the paint, 24-22.

But Duke’s inability to reach the free-throw line has been deadly, and it needs to be addressed.  They are among the nation’s worst in free-throw attempts, ranking 302nd (ahead of the game with Louisville) at just 15.3 attempts per game.  But on the other end, they allow teams 20.3 freebie attempts, one of the worst marks in Div. I.  They are dead last in the latter statistic in the ACC at 20.2.

Again, these woes have cost them wins – that much is true against Louisville, in a game they desperately needed to win.  If the Blue Devils cannot find a way to develop strong physicality inside and reach the charity stripe, then being in – and closing out – games will continue to be difficult – if not impossible – for this team.