After a heartbreaking last-minute 77-72 loss to No. 19 Kentucky in the Champions Classic, the Blue Devils came out with unbridled fury against Wofford, eager to put the memories of Tuesday night far behind them. Following 40-minutes of intense, unrelenting basketball, Duke emerged with a thumping 86-35 victory, giving up its fewest points allowed in the shot-clock era.
Midway through the first half, Duke embarked on a jaw-dropping 27-2 run across nine minutes of play during arguably the team’s best stretch of this young year. Eight Blue Devils scored points during this stretch, with head coach Jon Scheyer employing the deepest lineup he has all season.
The first 20 minutes saw 11 Duke players take the court, three more than in the entirety of the loss to the Wildcats. This included freshman center Patrick Ngongba II, who has been dealing with a foot injury since his senior year of high school. By the time the Blue Devils headed to the locker room, coach Jon Scheyer’s unit already held a commanding 51-14 lead.
"It's my first time with all these guys, except Caleb and Tyrese, so depth is important," Scheyer said after the game. "We have 11 good players ... but it's hard to play 11 guys. And so [it's important] finding out what that balance is. How deep you can go. Who can be ready? A lot of it comes down to defense and rebounding."
The second half began just as the first period ended, with Duke terrorizing the Terriers on the defensive end and scoring the basketball with ease. Caleb Foster, Kon Knueppel and Mason Gillis each converted on 3-point makes within the first five minutes, while transfers Maliq Brown and Sion James continued to prove their worth as elite on-ball defenders. It wasn’t until the 12-minute mark in the second half that Wofford finally eclipsed 20 points on offense.
With the Blue Devils holding a 66-20 lead, Scheyer let some of his more inexperienced freshmen take center stage, with Isaiah Evans, Ngongba and Darren Harris each entering the contest at the same time. Ngongba’s impact was particularly notable; the Manassas, Va., native’s elite instincts on both ends of the floor stood out. Whether it was making the right pass with pinpoint accuracy, or fighting through an opposing big to tip a rebound pack to his teammates, the freshman center made his presence felt even with limited minutes of play.
"I've watched Pat play for some time now," Scheyer said. His feel and instincts as a 6-foot-11 guy is rare. Our medical team has done an incredible job with him. It would have been very easy to try to rush him and get him back out there as soon as possible, but our thing was [getting] him out there pain free. That's his first game. There's gonna be some rust he's gotta work through. But I love what he did."
Saturday’s win was also by far Evans’ best performance of the season, as the Fayetteville, N.C., native amassed 14 points in just 13 minutes of play. Evans lightning-quick release and innate scoring ability to light up the scoreboard could prove useful during scoring droughts such as the one that the Blue Devils endured in the second half of the loss to Kentucky.
Meanwhile, Flagg and Knueppel didn’t have their most electric offensive performances, finishing with just eight points each. Instead, Duke’s veteran starters embraced the scoring burden, particularly Foster and Proctor. Each of the returning guards found a shooting rhythm early on, seamlessly converting on both 2- and 3-point attempts to the tune of 28 combined points.
The Blue Devils’ dominance took about three minutes to set in. Tyrese Proctor got the party started by converting on a corner three, and added another a few minutes later to give Duke an early 9-2 lead. The junior guard seems to have seriously improved his 3-point shooting during the offseason, hitting on an outstanding 47% of his threes through the first four games.
Even with several starters off the court, an infectious selflessness took over the team. After totaling just 12 assists in the loss to Kentucky, the Blue Devils surpassed that number with 14 in the first half alone. The best display of team basketball came when a series of lightning-quick passes, from Ngongba to Evans to Proctor, resulted in a 3-point make for the Sydney native.
"I'm really proud of how we shared the ball today," Scheyer said. "We've talked a lot about the process of the season, how, no matter if you win or lose, [it's important] how you respond, how you come back the next game. I think sharing the ball is a great sign of our guys responding to to Tuesday night."
What’s more, Duke’s defensive intensity was evident, with players jumping on loose balls and contesting every single shot like a team possessed. The Blue Devils forced the Terriers into 19 turnovers, and the team from South Carolina converted on a measly 25.5% of its shots. Wofford missed several open shots throughout the encounter, but Duke’s dominant defense undoubtedly played a role in the Terriers’ struggles.
After struggles from beyond the arc doomed the Blue Devils against the Wildcats, Duke placed a notable emphasis on 3-point shooting this time around, with the team’s percentage jumping from 16.7% to 42.1% from one game to the next. If the Blue Devils continue to refine their deep-range scoring, it will be extremely difficult for opponents to compete against their offensive firepower.
Duke continues its arduous start to the season next Friday with a tough road matchup at No. 9 Arizona, before traveling to Las Vegas to take on No. 1 Kansas four days later.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.
Rodrigo Amare is a Trinity sophomore and assistant Blue Zone editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.