Duke Basketball: Takeaways from Blue Devils home loss to Arizona Wildcats

No.2 Duke Basketball was unable to hang on at home against No. 12 Arizona, losing 78-73 at home to hand them their first loss of the season.

The young college basketball season saw one of its first matchups between two elite squads that have National Championship expectations, and it delivered on what that type of game is supposed to be. Arizona had held control for most of the game, but Duke had hung on and taken the lead with just a minute to go.

San Diego State transfer Keshad Johnson would take the noise right out of Cameron, hitting a layup over Kyle Filipowski for an and-one with 47 seconds remaining to give Arizona. Duke had the ball with a chance to make this go back and forth, but the Wildcat defense stood strong, and Tyrese Proctor would turn the ball over late, forcing the Blue Devils to play the foul game which just about did it.

Jon Scheyer has now lost his first game at home as head coach of Duke, and it came to a very challenging Arizona team, but also to a former rival. Caleb Love, a transfer from North Carolina, finished with 11 points in this game and would be the one to ice the game with four of those points coming off free throws.

Duke’s schedule does not get any easier, with their next game being against No.4 Michigan State, who will most likely fall in the rankings a good bit after losing to James Madison. This is an early loss that will show Duke what they need to improve on heading into that game and for the rest of the season.