Cassius Stanley: "Just Too Big a Deficit"

Freshman scored 24, but it wasn't enough in Louisville loss

Cassius Stanley led all scorers in Duke’s loss to Louisville, with 24 points. Although he hit just 7-of-17 from the field, Stanley drew six fouls and got to the line 10 times, hitting nine free throws. He added 11 rebounds for his first career double-double.

“We were just trying to win,” Stanley said when asked about his performance. “My teammates found me. The coaches were calling my number. We were just trying to win.”

Stanley’s strong game was muted by the fact that Duke lost its second straight, falling 79-73 at home. Louisville put Duke in a big hole early, which Stanley thought was the key to the game.

“It started off in the first half,” he said. “In the first couple minutes, we were down 15-16 points. That’s a lot to make up in the ACC. We played very hard, but it was just too big of a deficit. Honestly, we made a couple of mistakes down the stretch that we shouldn’t have made, but it started off in the first half.”

Part of Duke’s problem was it took the Blue Devils about 10 minutes to adjust to the physical play inside. Duke also turned the ball over 16 times, leading to 22 Louisville points.

“It started off in the beginning,” Stanley said. We didn’t realize how physical it was going to be. That was a rookie mistake, definitely, for us freshmen. Other than that, I think we got into it later on, but there were some key turnovers. I know I had a big one. We’ve got to clean that up.”