Oh well, at least the final margin of 12 was...not horrible. Misleadingly not horrible.
My unsubstantiated theory is that championship teams simply don't lose by more than 20 points...to anyone. This game was close to excluding Duke from that category.
I do think our players played hard and wanted to win; we simply weren't able to adapt on defense and that's what lost us the game. I mean giving up 72%...yikes. Why didn't we try more zone? Sure, it would lengthen possessions and make a comeback more difficult, but it's a heckuva lot better than allowing dribble penetration that lead to open lay-ups and dunks.
It's interesting to note how different our D is at home and on the road. At home, we look fantastic, reading plays, help side defense, generally doing what we want to do. On the road...we keep giving up easy shots. Wisconsin, NC State, and now GT.
I wonder what's up with this. Isn't defense supposed to be a constant?