On a night in which all No. 3 Kansas could seemingly do well was turn the ball over at a rapid rate, it was fitting that the Jayhawks — down three points to No. 4 Duke with under 10 seconds to play in the second half — missed two point-blank shots at the rim, missing a chance to chip in to Duke's lead before falling 68-66.

Kansas turned the ball over 27 times, which is modest considering it committed 18 turnovers … in the first half. It was lucky to be down three at half. After committing that many turnovers, it was lucky to have only lost by two, a number inflated ever so slightly by a last-second 3-point make from Devon Dotson. It was ugly. Kansas coach Bill Self said as much at halftime in an interview with ESPN, comments that will ring true even after the game.

"We were awful," he said. "We had poor guard play, poor big play. We weren't very good."

Duke wasn't much better, but its guards took care of the ball and applied consistent defensive pressure on Kansas throughout. Sophomore point guard Tre Jones scored a team-high 15 points, adding six rebounds and six assists to an overall stellar debut. Freshmen Matthew Hurt, Vernon Carey Jr. and Cassius Stanley all finished in double figures as well, with Stanley scoring 11 second-half points.

KU's scoring was paced by its own sophomore point guard, Devon Dotson, who finished with 17 points, three steals and one assist. He led the team with five turnovers, with KU's starting lineup committing a combined 20 turnovers.