With former head coach Mike Krzyzewski in attendance, the Blue Devils dominated his alma mater on his namesake court.
In Duke’s second game of the season, it rode a lockdown defensive performance and impressive second-half offensive outburst to a 100-58 win against Army. The Blue Devils had six players in double figures, led by Kon Knueppel and Tyrese Proctor, with 15 and 14, respectively.
For a three-minute sequence in the first half, Flagg showed why he is one of the top players in all of the land.
He started with a deflection and assisted a Sion James streaking layup, forcing Army to call a timeout. Following the break, he demonstrated his length by grabbing his own offensive rebound and securing an and-one. After blocking a Ryan Curry triple, he was rewarded with his own deep shot, splashing it and celebrating with his arms out wide.
"I thought he had it going in that first half, he was just really controlling the whole game with his rebounding, his passing, his play making, his scoring," Scheyer said.
This gave Duke a 36-13 stiffarm, which became 43-20 when both teams entered the locker room. On the defensive end, the home squad used its length to jump passing lanes and put pressure on the smaller Black Knight guards, who could not find rhythm offensively.
To start the second half, the Blue Devils’ shooting efficiency drastically improved, courtesy of the Tyrese Proctor show.
After scoring the half’s second bucket, he knocked down back-to-back-to-back threes on consecutive possessions; Duke’s lead blossomed to 63-31. While his heat check didn’t go in, the Sydney native’s confidence clearly changed after those buckets.
On the other end, Army’s Jalen Rucker attempted to keep up. He had five threes in the contest, often shooting from deep and over the outstretched arms of Duke defenders. Despite standing at only 5-foot-10, he was the main source of the Black Knight offense. His team responded well to the Proctor run, putting up a 12-2 burst of their own as head coach Jon Scheyer called a timeout.
But Duke’s offense was expanded when Army was forced to respect the outside jumper. James and Knueppel used their body to shield defenders as they drove and recorded and-ones. Both players highlighted the depth of the Blue Devil backcourt, as a number of players brought the ball up the court and facilitated the action.
Scheyer opened the bench for the remaining minutes of the half, and Duke cruised to victory. Flagg sat out the majority of the second period as his lower body was consistently being tended to on the bench.
Throughout the game, the Black Knights threw out a bunch of creative defensive looks, from a matchup zone to a box-and-1 and triangle-and-2. Much of this was to counteract the height advantage of every Blue Devil across positions.
"Give them credit. It's hard to identify what they're in at times and I thought it stood us up," Scheyer said. "I'm glad it happened, because it gives us a lesson to learn because its not just running plays, it's reacting to what the defense is going to do."
Army’s biggest player in the starting lineup was AJ Allenspach at 6-foot-8. The Simpsonville, S.C., native typically camped out in the paint on defense, and struggled to keep the 7-foot-2 Maluach off the glass. Khaman Maluach and Flagg both recorded double-digit rebounding numbers by the end of the first half, finishing with 25 combined for the game.
Duke pushed the pace offensively to open the contest. After every defensive rebound or turnover, the team looked for the quick outlet pass. The Blue Devils let it fly from deep, but only connected on one of its first eight triples. As a result, the Black Knights stayed in the game early, only trailing 9-8 at the under-16 media timeout.
To break the seal, Knueppel and Purdue transfer Mason Gillis hit back-to-back threes to extend Duke’s lead to 15-8. Much of Duke’s offense came from second-chance opportunities and fast-break points; the Blue Devils finished with a whopping 15 offensive rebounds and second-chance points in the first half. For his second bucket from deep, Knueppel was fed right in his shooter’s pocket after Foster snagged a board, and the Wisconsin native drilled a three.
Next up, the Blue Devils will take on Kentucky in Atlanta for the Champions Classic Nov. 12.
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Ranjan Jindal is a Trinity junior and sports editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.