After seeing a 10-game winning streak snapped Saturday in a last-second loss to its rival, No. 4 Duke will aim to bounce back on Tuesday night when it travels to Pittsburgh.

Duke’s road loss to North Carolina, on a last-second shot by the Tar Heels, was just the second of the season for the Blue Devils (21-2, 10-1 Atlantic Coast Conference). Duke was outscored by 15 points in the second half and 9-0 over the final 2:25.

A point of contention after the game between the two rivals was the discrepancy in fouls.

North Carolina was whistled for just seven, the lowest for a Duke opponent this season. The Tar Heels also were called for just one foul in the second half. North Carolina is averaging the fewest fouls per game (14.5) in the ACC.

Duke was called for 15 fouls, with starting forward Patrick Ngongba II fouling out in just 16 minutes. Instead of complaining about the officiating, Duke head coach Jon Scheyer used the foul numbers to challenge his players to work harder.

“For me, I don’t know if I’ve been a part of a game where there’s one foul in a half. I thought we were attacking the paint. Clearly, our guys have to play stronger and play better through contact,” Scheyer said. “Let me be very clear, that is not the reason (Duke lost). It’s hard to win, though, if you’re not drawing fouls at all and we’re fouling out. Again, not at all why we lost, but that’s something we have to do a better job with.”

Duke again was led by freshman Cameron Boozer, who finished with 24 points and 11 rebounds for his 12th double-double of the season and seventh with at least 20 points. Boozer leads the ACC in scoring (23.3 points per game) and rebounding (10.0) this season.

“Get Cam downhill. You just know he’s going to make the right play,” Scheyer said. “Sometimes it goes in, sometimes it doesn’t. I’m taking what we got every day of the week, twice on Sunday.”

Recent meetings between Duke and Pitt (9-15, 2-9) have been family reunions of sorts. Pitt coach Jeff Capel was an All-ACC guard for the Blue Devils in the mid-1990s and spent seven seasons on Duke’s bench as an assistant to longtime coach Mike Krzyzewski.

Scheyer and Capel were on the Blue Devils’ staff together for four seasons.

This season, Capel’s eighth at the helm of the Panthers, has been a struggle. Pitt has its second-worst single-season winning percentage of his tenure at .375. The Panthers have lost nine of their last 11 games, most recently falling at home 86-67 to SMU on Saturday.

Pitt ranks 302nd in scoring with 70.8 points per game.

“For a team that’s struggling like we are, a lot of times guys get energy when they see the ball through the basket,” Capel said. “If it’s not going through the basket, it can drain the energy and suck the energy from them … and then that affects everything. That’s where we have to grow. That’s where our immaturity and inexperience really has to grow.”

Pitt leading scorer Brandin Cummings (12.5 points) has missed the past two games with an ankle injury. Cameron Corhen, who scored 15 points against SMU, delivers 12.3 points per game with a team-best 7.4 rebounds.

–Field Level Media

MILAN, Italy — Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea said they were thrilled to defy expectations and deliver a clean, season-best pairs performance at the Winter Olympics on Sunday, a result that proved pivotal as the United States edged Japan to win a second straight gold in the team event.

Kam and O’Shea scored 135.36 points to earn seven points for Team USA in the pairs segment, and their fourth-place finish preserved a slim cushion over Japan in a nerve-jangling final day of competition.

Because of their performance, the United States carried a two-point lead into the women’s free skate, where Amber Glenn struggled and placed third, leaving the U.S. tied with Japan entering the men’s free skate finale.

“Quad God” Ilia Malinin then delivered to secure the decisive point and clinch the title for the Americans.

“Honestly, we were just ready to come out and perform,” O’Shea told Reuters on Monday.

“We walked into the rink with a great attitude. We were ready to go and felt like it was going to go well from the moment we stepped in,” he said.

While Malinin is the overwhelming favorite for the men’s gold, and Glenn and Alysa Liu are contenders on the women’s side, Kam and O’Shea are carrying somewhat lower expectations going into the pairs event in Milan.

“We’re grateful to have gone out there and performed well for our team and gotten an extra point that might not have been expected of us,” he added.

“Then we saw everybody doing their best, and Ilia brought it home. It was awesome.”

The performance was also redemption for the 21-year-old Kam and 34-year-old O’Shea, who had a fall during their short program in the team competition two days earlier.

Kam, who was seen shedding tears of joy on the podium during the U.S. national anthem, said the moment reflected years of effort to deliver under pressure on the sport’s biggest stage.

“I feel like Danny and I have worked so hard to get to this moment and show what we are capable of,” she said.

“We’ve been kind of clawing our way there and to be able to put out a performance that we’re proud of on one of the biggest stages means so much.”

“And hearing the anthem feels so solid,” Kam added.

“It’s like, we did that, that is playing for us. We represented our country well and made everybody proud.”

–Reuters, special to Field Level Media

Graham Ike sounded like he was discussing something out of “Game of Thrones.”

Perhaps after yielding a saber and smiting a foe.

“Who shies away from the contact? If you do, you’ll be eaten,” the Gonzaga big man said. “It’s like sharks smelling blood in the water, you can sniff that out. You’ve just got to battle back, iron sharpens iron.”

Ike did just that Saturday, matching a career high with 35 points as the No. 12 Bulldogs vanquished host Oregon State 81-61 to bounce back from an upset loss at Portland three days earlier. That loss dropped the Bulldogs from their No. 6 ranking.

Gonzaga (23-2, 11-1 West Coast Conference) will return to their home den to face Washington State (11-15, 6-7) on Tuesday in Spokane, Wash.

Ike, who had guaranteed the Bulldogs wouldn’t repeat their 87-80 loss to the Pilots, almost single-handedly made sure it didn’t happen.

He played all but the final minute Saturday, shot 13 of 18 from the field, 8 of 9 from the free-throw line and made his only 3-point attempt. He also had seven rebounds, two assists, one steal, one blocked shot and drew nine of the 17 fouls Oregon State committed, including two on one possession.

“I liked every single matchup that was on me, on the guards, on the wings,” Ike said. “I thought we could exploit the mismatches in a lot of different areas and we did. … Shout out to the guys honestly for their relentless effort all 40 minutes, every single guy. We couldn’t do it without 1-15 and the coaching staff, included. Great plan, great execution.”

Ike lamented a second-half turnover that prevented the Bulldogs from breaking a program record. They tied the mark by giving the ball away just twice.

“I wish I could’ve taken my one turnover away,” he said. “We took great care of the ball.”

Tyon Grant-Foster came off the bench to add 15 points and seven rebounds for the Bulldogs, who have struggled with secondary scoring while forward/center Braden Huff has missed the past seven games with a knee injury.

Gonzaga’s defense was markedly improved Saturday. They limited the Beavers to 44.2% shooting from the field (19 of 43) after Portland shot 59.3% (32 of 54).

Gonzaga coach Mark Few still hasn’t quite gotten over the latter number.

“It’s hard to find any consistency on the defensive end, let’s start with that,” Few said. “If everybody just does their jobs and bring what they bring, we’ve been pretty darn good this year. When they deviate from that and not bring what they’re supposed to bring, then it really exposes us.”

The Bulldogs defeated Washington State 86-65 on Jan. 15 in Pullman, Wash., in their first game without Huff. Ike led the way with 23 points on 11-of-15 shooting, 11 rebounds and five assists.

The Cougars are coming off a 96-92 loss Saturday to visiting Santa Clara, which has a half-game lead on Gonzaga atop the WCC standings.

“We have got to get over the top. We have got to start winning these games,” Washington State coach David Riley said. “Giving up 96 points at home is too much.”

Eemeli Yalaho led the Cougars with 21 points and Ace Glass added 20.

“We have got to take care of the little stuff. Then just finishing plays,” Yalaho said.

Santa Clara outscored the Cougars 21-11 over the opening 7:15 of the second half to pull away from a 49-all tie and WSU couldn’t quite catch up.

“We have got to lock in on both sides and play a full 40 minutes,” Glass said. “I feel like we have played a lot of 30, 35-minute games.”

–Field Level Media