On Sunday night, Maryland fans had a reason to celebrate: Duke men’s basketball was not going to the Final Four.
The much-hated Blue Devils fell to the Kansas Jayhawks in overtime, 85-81. Now that Duke’s tournament run is thankfully over, how about we look at how they did in the tournament compared to Maryland?
Missed field goals per game
Duke: 31.8
Maryland: 0.0
For the tournament, Duke made 48 percent of their field goals. They averaged 61 field goals per game and made 29.3 of them. However, that means that they missed 31.8 of them each game, which really is quite a lot. Compare that to Maryland, a school that did not miss a single shot in the tournament.
Missed 3-pointers per game
Duke: 17.8
Maryland: 0.0
Duke is a program that is always known for producing sharpshooters from deep. JJ Redick has had a lengthy NBA career because he’s made 41.4 percent of his threes for his career. More recently, Luke Kennard used his 3-point shooting talents to get drafted No. 12 in the 2017 NBA draft.
That’s what makes Duke missing over 17 threes per game during the tournament so shocking. In contrast, Maryland never had to suffer the indignity of a triple failing to go in.
Missed free throws per game
Duke: 5.3
Maryland: 0.0
Duke averaged 5.3 missed shots from the charity stripe, with the four they missed against Kansas proving especially costly, given that they lost by exactly four points. Meanwhile, the Terps wasted no opportunities at the line.
Turnovers committed per game
Duke: 11.0
Maryland: 0.0
Maryland had issues during the regular season with turnovers, but those were all resolved by the time the tournament rolled around. Duke, meanwhile, kept committing turnovers as they came up short of the Final Four.
