Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 24, 1992 TAG: 9202240057
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL BRILL SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
DUKE JOINS UPSET ROW
College basketball clearly is for the mortals.Duke joined the carnage that was the Top 25, blowing a 10-point lead in the final five minutes Sunday and losing 72-68 to Wake Forest.
In being outscored 15-1 down the stretch, the nation's top team looked nothing like No. 1.
But who does?
Only Indiana among the top 11 teams avoided the upset bug in the past seven days and 18 of the ranked teams in the Associated Press poll lost a total of 24 games.
The loss by Duke (21-2 overall, 11-2 ACC) left coach Mike Krzyzewski angry and disappointed.
"Give them credit," he said of the Deacons (16-7, 7-6). "But we lost the game in the last four minutes. We take full responsibility. None of my teams in the last few years has done that."
Even though Duke played as if it were tired and had little enthusiasm, the Blue Devils held a 67-57 lead after Thomas Hill made a three-point play with 5:19 to play.
At that stage, the cautious Devils had hit 65 percent of their shots and had just one second-half turnover.
Then Wake coach Dave Odom took a timeout with 4:51 left after Anthony Tucker (24 points) hit a short jumper that made it 67-59.
Odom made a defensive switch, putting 5-foot-11 Derrick McQueen on 6-8 Grant Hill, Duke's substitute point guard.
"We had planned to do that from the beginning," Odom said. "We knew we were faced with coming to get the basketball, and we thought the change might give Grant Hill some problems."
McQueen, who had been posted up for 20 points by T. Hill, forced a five-second call against G. Hill, hit a three-point shot (he was 0-for-5 until then) and then stole the ball from G. Hill and turned it into a three-point play by Trelonnie Owens that tied the score at 67 with 2:03 left.
Duke continued to play uncharacteristic ball. The ACC leaders at the foul line saw Brian Davis miss one of two with 1:45 left, and Grant Hill blow two shots at 1:08 with the Deacons ahead 69-68.
Even then, Duke had a chance. But Thomas Hill fell and made a turnover with 28 seconds left, after which Chris King made a free throw with 11.8 seconds left to make it 70-68.
Owens tapped out the King miss of the second shot and the Deacs wound up with Rodney Rogers at the free-throw line with 5.2 seconds to play.
Rogers missed, Duke got a timeout, but lost any hope of winning when G. Hill's long pass to Christian Laettner was caught with the big senior's foot on the sideline.
In the last 4:51, Duke was 0-for-2 shooting (Tucker blocked a T. Hill layup), had five turnovers and missed three of four at the free-throw line.
Eventually, two free throws by Chris King with one second left wrapped it up.
"It was very poor offensive execution," said Krzyzewski, whose team also gave up four points on three technicals - one on Laettner for griping and another when he grabbed the rim, and a third on Tony Lang for touching the ball after a Duke field goal.
"We didn't react the way we normally do," said Coach K, whose team usually shows poise in the clutch.
"It was the first time we didn't execute," said Grant Hill, who played 40 minutes for the fourth time in five games since Bobby Hurley's injury. "We didn't get the shots."
Hill, a 76 percent free-throw shooter, was 0-of-4. He admitted he's having concentration problems with the added responsibility.
McQueen, the only true guard on the floor (eight of the starters were at least 6-7 and T. Hill is 6-5), wasn't surprised that G. Hill didn't post him up.
"I think that would be very difficult for him," he said. "He's having to run the show. He's not accustomed to doing that."
In a seven-day period in which the Top Ten lost a dozen games, nothing is that much of a shock any more.
But Krzyzewski wasn't buying that, or moaning about the continued absence of Hurley. "We didn't react the way we normally do. I'm angry about that."
\ see microfilm for box score