Heading into the game against the Duke Blue Devils, the men’s basketball team didn’t have a lot working for them. The team lost three straight in the ACC, its best player Tracy Smith had a sore knee, freshman point guard Ryan Harrow had been sick with the flu, and miss the past two games, and its star freshman, CJ Leslie, was suspended.
So when the Pack was over matched and dominated by the No. 5 Devils in Durham on Saturday, 76-52, it came as no surprise.
Smith, who was wearing a knee brace on his right knee, put a heating pack on it every time he was on the bench and appeared to still be in pain. It was obvious that it had an impact on his play as Duke’s big men held him to only four points in the game, a season low.
“His knee is bothering him, its been bothering him for a while now,” coach Sidney Lowe said. “He’s having trouble. This break that we have will be good for him in particular.”
Harrow attempted to play Saturday, but he showed he was still feeling the effects of his sickness, as he was held scoreless, and committed four fouls and four turnovers.
“I was very pleased and impressed with [Harrow’s] grit and his guts, just trying to do it,” Lowe said. “He wasn’t feeling 100% but he certainly knew that we needed another ball handler over here, but he gave it a shot.”
Leslie on the other hand was perfectly healthy, but due to an unspecified violation of team rules, did not make the trip to Durham. After the game Lowe said Leslie was only suspended for the Duke game, but did not clarify which rule was broken.
The Pack once again started came out of the gates slowly, allowing Duke to take a huge lead in the first half. The deficit snowballed as Duke took a 53-24 halftime lead. Players still are unable to come up with a reason for beginning the games slowly.
“I have no clue,” Brown said of the sluggish start. “I think when we’re down by 20 or 30 it’s a wakeup call. But we have to wake up earlier. Holding Duke to 19% from the field in the second half, if the game had been close at halftime we probably would have won the game.”
Duke put on a clinic against the Pack picking it apart both inside and from beyond the arc as the Devils shot a sizzling 64.5 from the field and 60 percent from three in the first half. However, the defense stepped up in the second half limiting Duke to only six total field goals in the half and 19% from the field.
“We just played defense,” Brown said. “The first half nothing was there. We were letting guys go right past us and they were hitting open shots. The second half we stopped the penetration, we stopped Nolan Smith from getting to the hole. He’s their leading scorer and I don’t think he scored the second half.”
Brown and sophomore forward Richard Howell led the way for the Pack Brown finished with 15 points, nine rebounds and six assists, while Howell led the team with 18 points.
“I was just playing hard,” Howell said. “There’s no secrets to it, I just tried to work hard and put my team in a position to win. The first half, the defensive end really hurt us, but the second half we picked it up.”
Brown, who has shown flashes of brilliance and scoring ability this season, played point guard for much of the second half. His teammate spoke very highly of his ability.
“It’s a beautiful thing to watch,” Howell said of Brown. “I don’t think anybody really knows just how good Lorenzo [Brown] really is. He definitely came out of his shell a little tonight.”
Even with the fourth straight loss in the ACC, sophomore forward DeShawn Painter and the players are attempting to stay positive in hopes of stringing a few wins together in the latter part of the season.
“It’s difficult, but it’s a learning curve,” Painter said. “We’ll be alright, we had some struggles last year like this, but then we made a run. Every team makes a run and I think we’re going to make a run soon. It’s just the first half that’s really killing us.”
