Clemson fell to Duke 82-64 in ACC play. Here’s the good, bad and ugly from the contest.
Clemson felt the effects of No. 9 Duke having Trevor Keels back in the lineup. After missing the first meeting between the clubs, Keels scored a game-high 25 points to power the Blue Devils to a 82-64 win over the Tigers on Thursday night at Littlejohn Stadium.
Clemson (12-12, 4-9) has now lost three straight and four of its past five.
Here’s the good, bad and ugly from the Tigers’ home loss:
The good
Prior to the game, Clemson recognized Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski, who made his last trip to Littlejohn Coliseum as a head coach Thursday night. The Tigers announced plans of donating $5 for every win Krzyzewski’s had at Duke to the Emily Krzyzewski Center in Durham, N.C.
“I talked with Graham Neff, our athletic director, about what we thought we needed to do,” Clemson head coach Brad Brownell said. “I know he called around and talked to some other folks in the league. I’m sure several of the other ADs spoke and I don’t what every school did, but I think this is something a couple schools have done for sure. I thought it was appropriate.”
Established in 2006 and named after Krzyzewski’s mother, the Emily K Center is a nonprofit organization that “implements four academic programs, designed to help students chart their own paths to college,” according to the website. There are programs for elementary, middle and high school students.
The organization also partners with around 50 organizations in the Durham area. According to its 2020-21 tax returns, the Emily K Center totaled $4,885,455 in gross receipts.
“I didn’t know that they were going to do that for the Emily Krzyzewski Center,” Krzyzewski said. “We service 2,000 kids in Durham and that was a really nice thing.”
The bad
Thursday’s contest featured a scary moment at the 3:01 mark of the first half when Duke guard Wendell Moore, Jr. went up for a breakaway dunk and Clemson guard David Collins undercut Moore, Jr. as he was coming down.
Neither got up right away with Moore, Jr. staying down the longest, but eventually getting up and walking to the bench under his own power. The dangerous foul prompted a review and ultimately a flagrant 2 foul assessed to Collins, who apologized to Moore before being ejected.
“He was parallel to the ground eight feet up in the air,” Krzyzewski said. “That’s one of the most dangerous plays I’ve ever seen. I’m not knocking Collins, don’t get me wrong. I’ve never seen a player like that.”
During the review, both coaching staffs exchanged words and had to be separated by the referees.
Collins issued a statement on his Instagram story during the game, maintaining he had no ill intent on the play.
“I was going to try to block it from behind but I was going too fast and I couldn’t stop,” he wrote. “I realized I needed to stop when it was too late. I never have been a dirty player. I wish bro (Moore, Jr.) a healthy season.”
Brownell echoed the sentiments.
“We have a lot of respect for coach K and Duke and their program, and the last thing we’re trying to do is hurt anybody,” Brownell said. “It’s just the right thing to do to take him over there since he’s leaving the court that he has to stand up and apologize himself. That’s why we did it.”
The ugly
After a 4-4 tie in the early stages of the game, the Blue Devils went on a 14-2 run then went up by as many as 13 in the first half. The Tigers, who shot 37.9% from the field, narrowed the Blue Devils’ lead to five in the first four minutes of the second half following a 3-pointer from Al-Amir Dawes for a 45-40 score.
Duke then outscored Clemson 22-6 over the next nearly nine minutes. The Blue Devils’ largest lead came after the visitors went up 75-53 at the 5:13 mark after Paolo Banchero knocked down a 3.
“We didn’t have a good night shooting the ball,” Brownell said. “Our guards, we made 3’s when we fought them at their place, but here, we didn’t make shots and then that put more pressure on us. They just executed very well down the stretch in the second half.”
Up next
Clemson stays home to host Notre Dame at 7 p.m. Saturday.
This story was originally published February 10, 2022 at 10:28 PM.
