Exam season may be over, but Duke’s defense just aced another test.
In its last home nonconference matchup, No. 5 Duke was tested from wire-to-wire by a stout George Mason defense. But in the end, the Blue Devils prevailed 68-47 behind a strong offensive start to the second half and a consistently stifling unit on the other end of the floor.
“I thought it was a really good win for us. A ton of respect for Tony Skinn and George Mason … They lost two games they either should have won or could have won,” head coach Jon Scheyer said. “They’re experienced, incredibly well coached, disciplined.”
As both teams headed into the locker room for halftime, the game appeared to be exactly what the analytics would have suggested: a defensive dogfight. After roughly 10 minutes, both teams sported a 25% clip from the field, with George Mason converting on zero threes to Duke’s four. Neither squad was able to pull away as two of the top defenses in the nation went to battle in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The Blue Devils (9-2, 1-0 in the ACC) came out firing on all cylinders in the second half. The defense continued to look elite, as Cooper Flagg and Khaman Maluach affected every shot down low and forced the Patriots to settle for contested threes. But the more promising outcome was the offense playing catch-up, as Duke had already added 11 to its halftime total through three-and-a-half minutes. This downpour was capped off by a Tyrese Proctor corner three, forcing George Mason coach Tony Skinn to take a timeout with 16:37 remaining.
Even with this newfound cushion, the Blue Devils did not let off the gas, switching into a full-court press to try and wear down the reeling Patriots. Flagg also found a new gear offensively after going 2-for-11 from the field in the first half, already racking up six points by the first media stoppage.
“It’s obviously good to see the first couple go through. I wish I could do that every time … It’s not gonna be perfect every single day,” Flagg said. “So, just gotta keep trusting the work, trusting all the hours I put in and the extra work with my coaches.”
After going up 40-20, Duke began to lose its footing slightly as George Mason (7-4) broke off a 6-0 run, forcing Scheyer to call for a timeout to stop the bleeding. The Blue Devils seemed to just be slightly out of sync, as multiple turnovers came from stepping out of bounds and open looks careened barely off the rim. Duke went over five minutes without scoring and had multiple possessions end due to careless ball handling.
A tough layup by Giovanni Emejuru over Maliq Brown ignited the small but mighty Patriot contingent in the stands, but their chanting was slowly drowned out, both by a much larger pro-Duke crowd and a wide open Isaiah Evans triple to stretch the lead to 47-30. One timeout later, the freshman marksman knocked down another trey to keep the Patriots at a distance.
The pace largely stayed up the rest of the way, allowing Duke to finish with a hard-fought victory that looked much more comfortable on paper than in actuality.
“The score may look like there's a big margin. It didn't feel easy to me,” Scheyer said. “I felt every possession in this game was a fight, and it was hard to gain separation, which we finally did in the second half there. But I think it's a credit to our defense, to the competitive spirit of our guys.”
George Mason entered the contest as the 16th-best 3-point defense in the nation according to KenPom, but that seemed to be no issue for the home squad from the opening tip. Duke’s first two buckets came from beyond the arc courtesy of Flagg and Proctor, and Scheyer’s group continued to generate open looks heading into the first media timeout.
But the going got much tougher after the first stoppage. Duke proceeded to miss 11 straight shots, including multiple layups. As the first half wore on, the Blue Devils’ fortunes did not improve much. The Patriots forced Duke to settle for tough looks at the end of the shot clock or threes as they denied dribble drives and stuffed attempts at the rim. On the other end, George Mason began to find success down the stretch, as it hit its first three of the night courtesy of K.D. Johnson followed up by a layup to make it 20-16 heading into the final media timeout of the half.
“They're just physical and scrappy. They did pretty much everything we expected them to do. I feel like we got okay looks, they just weren’t going down,” Sion James said.
After missing one game due to a toe injury, Tuesday marked the return of stud defender Maliq Brown. The junior forward did his usual duty, making hustle plays on both ends of the floor and stifling Patriot bigs down low to prove his immense worth as a glue guy for Scheyer’s team. This was highlighted by a sweet steal in the first half that the Syracuse transfer parlayed into a behind-the-back dribble and assist to Mason Gillis as he was falling out of bounds.
Much like in the previous game against Incarnate Word, Duke toted a major size advantage on the inside. The Patriots did not possess a single starter over 6-foot-8, a far cry from the Maluach-Flagg frontcourt. The Blue Devils did not shy away from exploiting that disparity early, attempting two alley-oops on their first two offensive possessions, both of which resulted in fouls drawn.
Up next, the Blue Devils will travel to Atlanta Saturday at noon to take on Georgia Tech as ACC play gets into full swing.
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