Duke has taken it on the chin this season. Until Monday night's 84-74 victory at Notre Dame, there hadn't been a full game in 2017 where Duke had played its best basketball for 40 minutes. The Blue Devils were far from perfect in the victory, but at least good enough to hold off the Irish late with both Amile Jefferson and Luke Kennard fouled out.
It's a cathartic victory for this Duke program that entered the evening just 2-5 against Notre Dame in ACC play (since 2013-14) with no victories in South Bend since 1995. Former Duke assistant Mike Brey had started to claim some ownership of Tobacco Road and his former mentor, Mike Krzyzewski, but that narrative has been put on hold for a moment. Instead, the focus is on this talented Blue Devils roster figuring it out on the floor just when it looked like the season could go off the rails.
The win puts Duke over .500 in conference play (5-4) with the first North Carolina game coming up in just over a week (Feb. 9). That showdown is in the middle of a three-game homestand for a team that could have lost its way over the past 10 days but instead evolved into the most dangerous five-loss team in the country. Barring another slip back to their previous underperforming ways, Duke is on a path to turning its season around.
Three things to know as Duke and Notre Dame enter a hectic February in ACC play:
1. Duke and Notre Dame are headed in opposite directions: While Duke looks ready to ride, Notre Dame just dropped its third straight game. Opposing coaches, Jeff Capel and this Duke staff included, have started to develop methods of stifling Notre Dame's offensive sets. More preparation and better rotations on defense mean less open looks for Steve Vasturia, V.J. Beachem and the rest of Notre Dame's shooters. Suddenly, one of the best shooting teams in the ACC can't hit and now the Irish are dangerously close to sliding from the tier of ACC title contenders to the crowded middle pack, fighting every night to secure a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
2. Jeff Capel is getting comfortable with the rotations: Luke Kennard and Matt Jones are the only regular contributors who haven't missed time because of injury or other tripping-related reasons. That has resulted in a fluid starting lineup and a clunky adjustment period once the team got close to full strength in January. Now at the midway point of the ACC schedule, Duke has a couple different groupings that work well on the floor together. One particularly dangerous group has 6-foot-8 freshman Jayson Tatum matching up against power forwards, breaking them down with his versatile offensive game.
3. Duke is going to be the team that no one wants to draw in tournament play: Duke's trajectory, for the moment, has it winning more than half of its remaining ACC games with a good chance to knock off North Carolina at home next week -- maybe a dramatic evening in Cameron with Coach K's return from back surgery? -- but then drop at least one or two more games before the ACC tournament. Likely destined for a spot outside the top four seeds (earning the double-bye in Brooklyn), Duke will enter the postseason with a chance to string together a couple wins and build some real momentum heading into the NCAA Tournament.
