It wasn't made a certainty until Tuesday night, but the groundwork for Duke's 88-72 loss at Florida State started getting laid a few days earlier when its best interior defender limped off the court.
Since Amile Jefferson suffered a bone bruise to his right foot—the same one he broke in December 2015, causing him to miss the rest of last season—late in the first quarter Saturday against Boston College, it's been a major balancing act for the Blue Devils to play any sort of serviceable defense while maintaining their usual offensive efficiency.
It caused the BC game to go from a laugher to surprisingly stressful down the stretch and made the already tough trip to Tallahassee, Florida, produce the largest margin of defeat in nearly two years.