Duke men’s basketball returns to Cameron Indoor Stadium for a conference game against Virginia Tech. The Blue Zone previews the New Year’s Eve contest with an overview and three keys:
Overview
2023-24 record: 19-15, 10-10 in the ACC
2024-25 record: 5-7, 0-1 in the ACC
Head coach: Mike Young
History: Duke leads 32-10
Last meeting: 77-67 Duke, Jan. 29, 2024
The Hokies enter the brunt of their ACC schedule, having lost their first conference matchup against Pittsburgh by a 64-59 margin. Two of their seven defeats have come at the hands of mid-major opponents, falling to Jacksonville at home, 74-64, in late November and to Saint Joseph's, 82-62, in their most recent game Dec. 21.
Virginia Tech should finish near the bottom of the conference, being tabbed as the 14th-best team in the ACC in the conference’s preseason poll. The Hokies haven’t shown anything on the court to prove the naysayers wrong. However, they’ll undoubtedly be hungry to do so Tuesday, taking a trip to Durham to try to knock off the presumptive top team in the conference after having 10 days to stew over their recent ugly loss.
Tuesday will be a return for recent transfer Jaden Schutt, as the 6-foot-5 guard departed Durham after using a medical redshirt last season. The Yorkville, Ill., native has flourished in Blacksburg, Va., having started each of his new team’s 12 contests this season, and has averaged a respectable 9.3 points while shooting primarily from behind the arc and connecting at a 36.8% rate.
The Hokies aren’t the best team in the ACC, but Duke will still need to work hard to knock them off and shake off some rust of its own.
3 Keys
Start strong: A tale as old as time — a foe enters Cameron Indoor stadium and takes a quick lead, prompting a line from an announcer along the lines of “Everyone brings their best when visiting Duke” or “The Blue Devils are down early, as [insert opponent here] has brought their A-game to Durham.”
As long as Duke is one of the premier teams in the country, rivals will try their hardest to knock it off. If possible, the Blue Devils must quell these attempts early. In their first game back from a long break, this task will be harder than ever, but head coach Jon Scheyer’s team must come out firing and take away hope of an upset early.
Scheyer’s rotations: Duke’s lineups have been in flux throughout the season, especially the presence of Isaiah Evans. The sniper has earned more playing time as of late coming off of the bench and draining threes at a blistering 51.2%. He hasn’t seen more than 20 minutes in a game due to concerns about his ability on the defensive end of the court, but his immense value on offense should outweigh that.
After a 10-day break for the Blue Devils, the coaching staff should have had plenty of time to make some evaluations of the team’s performance heading into conference play, and we might see some mid-season adjustments based on those. In my eyes, I could see a smaller role for Mason Gillis, as the supposed 3-point specialist has shot a low 25% from downtown, with Evans potentially taking some of his minutes.
“Battle mode”: In his article chronicling Coach K’s final season, ESPN’s Wright Thompson described “battle mode” as “a way of looking at the world, of ordering it, stripping away everything that doesn't directly impact the next game.”
The onset of conference play signaled the beginning of battle mode, which this year’s current team must adopt in order to survive. Scheyer’s group is currently ranked as the No. 4 team in the country, but the real tests lie on the horizon — no one hangs banners for AP Poll rankings in December. If Duke is to continue its ascent into the team it can be, it must enter battle mode. That shift must begin as it traditionally has, at the start of conference play.
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