ORLANDO, Fla. — It wasn’t even midway through the first half here on Saturday afternoon before Duke’s players returned to their bench during a timeout, looking a bit weary and beleaguered, and received a message from their coaches that became the refrain of what turned out to be their final game of the season.
“You gotta be strong!” Jai Lucas, the Blue Devils’ assistant coach, shouted into the huddle in an urging, pleading tone, as if he was trying to will that strength into those before him.
“We’ve got to be tougher,” Jon Scheyer, the first-year head coach, said calmly — the intensity of his eyes doing most of the talking. He repeated it again, shaking his head: “We’ve got to be tougher.”
