On Tuesday night, college basketball fans saw a thriller with a controversial ending in Lexington, when LSU beat Kentucky at the buzzer. Right after that game ended, Kentucky’s in state rival, Louisville, looked to upset a top 5 team in its opponent, Duke. For about 75% of the game it certainly looked like Louisville was on its way to doing so, as they were up 23 with about 10 minutes left. They were dominating the Blue Devils in every way. Zion was in foul trouble, Tre wasn’t hitting shots and was almost useless in the first half, RJ Barret cooled down from his game against Virginia, and the team in general just looked flat; they looked like losers.
In an in game huddle, Coach K looked at his guys and said “I don’t coach losers, but you guys are playing like losers.” He then subbed in Jordan Goldwire and called for an all out full court attack by Tre Jones and Goldwire to pressure Louisville and force turnovers. Like many things K has called for during his career, it worked. Duke forced 11 turnovers in the final 20 minutes, resulting in 19 points. RJ hit Cam with a between the legs pass and Cam hit the game tying three and the rest is history as Duke completed the comeback to beat Louisville.
At the end of the game, Zion Williamson said Jordan was definitely the player of the game. Goldwire epitomizes an end of the bench player who rarely plays but needs to be ready when called upon. He was ready and he contributed to winning, he only took two shots but his energy served as the spark plug a flat looking Duke team desperately needed.
Duke is the most talented team in the country and have shown they can flip the switch to take it to another level when needed, despite the constant stress it causes me, and get better as the game goes on. On Saturday night after Duke beat Virginia, RJ Barret said that Duke likes to wear black on the road because they are going to the other team’s funeral. Tuesday night, Louisville had its first blackout with the team and fans in all black; they were dressed for their own funeral.
