For the first 30 minutes Sunday, Army showed off one way to beat Duke this year—run, run and keep running offensively.
The Black Knights' veteran guards pushed the pace relentlessly to stay in the game far longer than expected, avoiding having to contend with the Blue Devils' length and athleticism simply by beating them down the floor early and often. Army ran out of gas while Duke picked up its defensive intensity to stretch a slim six-point lead with less than 12 minutes left to 25, but the Blue Devils still appeared mortal for much of the afternoon after a near-perfect 118-84 rout against Kentucky in the Champions Classic.
"They would get it down so fast that we didn’t talk well in the first half because you have to talk quicker," head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "When we were switching, they already did something before we could get our guys to say ‘switch.’"
Of the 16 shots the Black Knights made from the field in the first half, eight came in the first 10 seconds of the possession, as junior point guard Tommy Funk led the break regardless of whether Duke scored or not and usually made the right decision. Funk posted a double-double with 12 points 10 assists and just two turnovers.
The Blue Devils only allowed two opposing players to dish out at least 10 assists against them all season last year—Notre Dame's Matt Farrell and Michigan State's Cassius Winston—putting Funk in impressive company.
"We knew that they would push the ball, but I have to give them a lot of respect. We scored and they got that ball inbounds very fast and pushed it down the floor. Their point guard, he’s a very talented guard," Duke freshman Zion Williamson said. "He controlled the team, I don’t think he made any bad plays, so I think it was a great experience for us to play against him."
Five days after it took less than 10 minutes for the Blue Devils to build a 21-point lead against the No. 2 team in the nation, Duke needed more than 30 minutes to hold at least a 15-point advantage against Army. The Black Knights responded to the Blue Devils' elite onslaught with good ball movement to find open 3-point shooters and an opportunistic defense that created opportunities after live-ball turnovers.
Duke committed 12 giveaways, tripling its minuscule total from its win against the Wildcats, with some of its freshman stars trying to force the issue when its offense was not flowing well in the first half. On back-to-back possessions when the Blue Devils were on the verge of pulling away with a 36-25 lead, Williamson and freshman R.J. Barrett tried ill-fated behind-the-back dribbles in traffic. Both turned into steals and points on the other end for Army, forcing Krzyzewski to call timeout.
"We dribble behind our back twice, get it stolen, and they score five points on it. Part of that is you feel we were better, and you can just do something on your own," Krzyzewski said. "In the second half, we played together more."
Duke's lack of an offensive rhythm also resulted in several missed shots and long rebounds that helped the Black Knights get a head start in transition. After reserve point guard Jordan Goldwire missed a 3-pointer with less than five minutes left in the first half, Josh Caldwell grabbed the rebound and had a clean breakaway that would have trimmed the Blue Devils' lead to one at 40-39, but missed the wide-open right-handed dunk.
Army never pulled in front after the opening minutes, but it had an answer for every Duke run and made back-to-back triples eight minutes into the second half to cut a 12-point deficit in half. The Blue Devils then finally put the game away with an 11-0 run and only gave up 11 points in the final 12 minutes.
"It was different, but as the game went on, we got used to it and we figured it out," freshman Cam Reddish said of the Black Knights' pace. "Coach made a lot of adjustments throughout the game, and we ran with it."
When Duke had time to get set in its halfcourt man-to-man, it limited the Black Knights' chances, and they shot just 31.6 percent in the second half. Williamson was all over the place on defense with three blocks on one possession early in the half. But despite the Blue Devils' relatively comfortable 22-point margin of victory in the end, future opponents with good, fast point guards now have a blueprint for how to attack them.
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