Duke coach Jon Scheyer isn’t pretending the Elite Eight loss to UConn is easy to swallow, but he is treating it like a lesson his program can carry forward.
Scheyer joined Jon Rothstein on the Inside College Basketball Now podcast on Friday and spoke at length about Duke’s incoming class, his relationship with Coach K and the direction of the program. The UConn loss came up, too, and Scheyer made it clear he has watched it back.
He said he will take lessons from the defeat and expects his players to do the same, though he also admitted he only watched the game recently. That tracks with a game that still stings for Duke.
For Huskies fans, it remains one of the most memorable finishes in NCAA Tournament history. UConn was down 74-72 with fewer than 10 seconds left, then forced a steal around midcourt before Braylon Mullins buried a game-winning three-pointer with 0.3 seconds remaining, just inside half court, to send the Huskies to the Final Four.
UConn later fell to Michigan in the national title game, but the run was another reminder of how often the Huskies have been on the biggest stage. They’ve reached three title games in the last four years.
Duke and UConn will see each other again in the regular season this year, part of UConn’s loaded schedule. Their meeting is set for Nov. 25, the day before Thanksgiving.
Both programs should be strong again, but both have real roster questions. Duke lost Cam Boozer to the NBA, while UConn is moving on without Alex Karaban and Tarris Reed Jr., who left for the NBA as well, along with graduation. The Huskies also reportedly will be without guard Solo Ball for the season because of a wrist injury.
The article also noted that UConn’s football team is back in action Saturday night at 7 p.m. ET against Southern Miss, in its first road game of the season after a home loss to Maryland.
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UConn Faces A Real Early Test In Jason Candles First Road Game
Jason Candles first road game as UConns coach brings the Huskies into a tougher setting than the opener, with a trip to Southern Miss offering an early read on how this team handles travel, crowd noise and a different kind of game-day pressure. The matchup in Mississippi comes with both sides still trying to get more out of their running game after limited success in recent outings, a detail that could matter just as much as the coaching storyline.
For UConn, it is less about the scenery than the standard. Candle has already seen his team at home, but this one asks for a sharper performance away from Storrs against a Southern Miss group that has its own motivations and familiarity with the kind of season-turning opportunity that comes with an early nonconference test. For a Huskies program trying to build momentum under a new coach, the next step is proving the first road trip can look a lot like the first home game, only harder. [Read more 🡒]
UConns First Road Test Could Reveal A Lot About Jason Candle
UConns first road test of the season arrives Saturday night in Hattiesburg, where the Huskies will face Southern Miss in a matchup that gives Jason Candle an early chance to show how his team handles a change of scenery. Both programs are in their first year under new leadership, with Candle guiding UConn and Blake Anderson taking over at Southern Miss, and the 7 p.m. ET kickoff on ESPN+ brings together two coaches still putting their fingerprints on their new jobs.
For Candle, the setting adds a little more intrigue because this is not unfamiliar territory opposite Anderson. The two have crossed paths before, so there is a bit of shared history behind a game that already carries the usual early-season questions about depth, adjustment and travel. For UConn, it is the kind of trip that can reveal whether the opening momentum holds up once the Huskies leave home. [Read more 🡒]