Coach K addresses Paolo Banchero's surprising admission on recent play

Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski has a loaded roster full of five-star talent all over the place. That doesn’t mean his players haven’t gone through their share of rough games during the season, including future first-round pick, Paolo Banchero. After Duke thoroughly whipped Syracuse on Saturday, 97-72, Coach K took some time to speak with the media about his star power forward, who struggled mightily in his team’s last two games against Virginia.

Jayden Gardner gave Banchero problems in Durham, limiting him to a season-low nine points on 3-of-9 shooting from the field. The Cavaliers’ defense also caused him to turn the ball over four times in their 69-68 upset victory. In Charlottesville against Virginia (Feb. 23), the former five-star prospect once again struggled against Gardner and the Cavaliers’ pack-line defense, posting another season-low of eight points. He only connected on 2-of-13 shots from the field and also had three turnovers in that game.

After the Syracuse win, Coach K talked about Banchero working through his recent rough stretches.

“Yeah, well working through it is the main thing. We’ve talked. He and Jon (Scheyer) have worked a lot. The workouts have been at a greater speed to try to get him to play at a greater speed.” Krzyzewski admitted that his star power forward may have been putting too much pressure on himself. “These guys at times, put a lot of pressure on themselves. You can get stuck in your own head.”

Banchero was one of three Duke players to score over 20 points, as they obliterated Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim’s famed 2-3 zone.

“And he was the guy in the middle of the zone. That hurts any zone when you have a guy like that doing that. Nine assists and one turnover. Then he hit four threes. So, really, really outstanding performance,” Krzyzewski said.

The Duke head coach said his star is having more fun and that always comes with playing better.

“Well, you’re gonna have more fun if you’re playing better…Look, he’s a great teammate and wants us to win and is happy about that. But he wasn’t happy about the level of performance. Big difference. And you shouldn’t be, because if you’re not happy about it, you’ll change.”

Banchero’s teammates also dominated Saturday, including center Mark Williams, who posted career numbers

Duke’s 7-foot-1 center Mark Williams is one of the most unstoppable forces in college basketball. He found no resistance on Saturday night as his Blue Devils dominated the Syracuse Orange from start to finish, 97-72. Williams pumped in a career-high 28 points, corralling 12 rebounds, and three blocks.

The sophomore from Virginia Beach, Virginia is blessed with an incredible amount of power and strength both on the offensive and defensive sides of the basketball.

As noted above, Williams was not the only player that stuffed the stat sheet in the win for the Blue Devils. Paolo Banchero, Mark Williams, and AJ Griffin became the first Duke men’s basketball trio to each score 20 points in a game since Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett, and Cam Reddish did it, according to ESPN Stats & Info. The trio did it twice in November 2018.

Duke finishes off their regular season against Pittsburgh (March 1) and North Carolina (March 5).