Both happened on Tuesday night, which raises eyebrows for both teams.

McGary told ESPN.com’s Jeff Goodman following the Wolverines’ 79-69 loss to the Blue Devils that, “We’re soft right now. That’s it.”

That quote comes from one of the leaders of a team that already has lost two other games — to Iowa State and Charlotte.

Interestingly, in two of the three games Michigan has lost, McGary has scored fewer than 10 points. He scored 15 in Tuesday’s loss to Duke, but eight of those points came in the final 1:47 of the game, when the Blue Devils already had the game in hand.

So there may be frustration of not getting enough touches. Or seeing three losses from a team that was the national runner-up last season. Or maybe it’s seeing freshman point guard Derrick Walton commit a team-high 20 turnovers — eight more than any other player. Maybe it’s on himself because of the back injury he’s working back from. Maybe it’s all of the above.

Whatever the case, Michigan has four more games to right itself before Big Ten play begins. Two of the games come against BCS-level competition in Arizona and Stanford, and another is against Holy Cross, which has performed well against top-level competition this season.

Meanwhile, Sulaimon is feeling similar frustrations, but it’s all on him. Coach Mike Krzyzewski said earlier this year Sulaimon did not enter the fall in top condition, and teammate Tyler Thornton told The News & Observer on Tuesday that Sulaimon just needs to man up.

"He knows what he needs to do, I don’t really want to speak on that," Thornton said. "He have a week and a half until our next game. We have a lot of practice time. Hopefully we can get what we need out of him in that span."

Since scoring in double digits in Duke’s first two games, Sulaimon has scored 8 or fewer six straight times before Tuesday’s DNP.

"He has to play better than the guys who played tonight," Krzyzewski told reporters of Sulaimon not playing.


UK BACK IN PLAY FOR VAUGHN


Rashad Vaughn, ranked No. 13 among Sporting News’ Top 25 prospects for 2014, is again considering Kentucky, the 6-5 shooting guard told SNY.tv via text.

Along with big man prospect Myles Turner, Vaughn, from Findlay Prep in Henderson, Nev. by way of Minnesota, is one of the top two remaining prospects who have yet to commit. Vaughn’s eight choices are now Arizona, Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, North Carolina and UNLV. He’s taken official visits to both Iowa State and UNLV and also has one planned for UNC in February.

Kentucky already has Devin Booker signed as a shooting guard, along with PG Tyler Ulis and power forwards Karl Towns Jr. and Trey Lyles. If recruiting rankings mean anything, Vaughn would seem to have an edge on playing time over Booker. But, Vaughn might opt to choose an easier route to a starring role. If his Twitter handle (@ShowtimeMr) means anything, there might be a need to be a star.

But given Vaughn’s visits, Iowa State, UNLV and UNC have to be considered his top schools. However, the Tar Heels already have a pair of small forwards in Justin Jackson and Theo Pinson, with Pinson having the ability to play the 2-spot. Again, would Vaughn want to contend with that?

Vaughn is expected to make his decision in the late signing period, which starts April 16 and ends May 21. The entire college basketball season will be in the books, and all of those declaring for the NBA draft will have done so by late April. Vaughn will have a chance to evaluate everything as he makes his decision. And he’s talented enough that teams will be willing to leave a spot open for him.


I-TEAM INVESTIGATION


Nik Stauskas’ shoe toss that landed two rows deep into the Cameron Crazies is the second instance of shoe-nanigans we’ve seen this year.

But did he earn more style points than what Georgetown’s Shayla Cooper could muster less than a month ago?

Our investigative team put its heads together to analyze these moments.

STAUSKAS

The incident: Stauskas loses his shoe in the first half, then tosses it into the stands, where one of the Crazies catches it with glee.

His real intent: Kill the Crazies with his foot odor.

The outcome: Stauskas gets his shoe back on the next possession, and the game goes on. But Stauskas had a terrible night with just four points on 0-for-2 shooting.

Shoe toss grace (scale of 1-10): 10. Have you ever seen a 6-6 player ever throw something so gently? Damn, he’s smooth. Roger Clemens could have learned something from him.

COOPER

The incident: Cooper loses her left shoe on the low block, retrieves it, then tosses it into the air in an attempt to block a Richmond player’s shot.

Her real intent: “Hey, there was a bat flying in the arena, and in the interest of public health, it was my duty to get it,” Cooper could have been quoted as saying.

The outcome: Cooper scored 17 points and the Hoyas won despite the blooper.

Shoe toss grace (scale of 1-10): 8. Not only did Cooper miss her intended target, she opted to catch her shoe instead of boxing out. C’mon, Shayla!

Advantage Stauskas.

Contributor: Roger Kuznia