After a trio of home wins, the Blue Devils are back on the road to take on Boston College. In front of a roaring crowd at Conte Pavilion, Duke heads into the halftime locker room leading the Eagles 40-34:
Sympathy for the Devils
With the sea of Duke blue in the seats of Conte Pavilion, one might think the Blue Devils are a traveling band coming to town for a performance, not an ACC rival challenging the home team. A chorus of cheers drowned out a lesser number of boos when Duke’s starting lineup was announced, which rose to an uproar when freshman forward Cooper Flagg’s name was called. The Newport, Maine, native made his furthest trip north thus far in a Blue Devil uniform Saturday, and while Chestnut Hill, Mass., is still over three hours away, Flagg was still welcomed like a hometown hero.
The rockstar hooper’s performance began just moments later, as his opening shot bounced off the backboard and rang true. However, an early run by the home team paired with a Flagg miss from deep turned the tide against the visitors. A brief “overrated” chant sang out from Boston College’s student section, and they did their best to distract Flagg at the free-throw line minutes later.
Old-school post work
The Eagles found an early rhythm that few other teams have against Duke, spurred on by big man Chad Venning, who finished the half with nine points. The 6-foot-9, 270-pound forward took on freshman Khaman Maluach in the post for three consecutive buckets to open the game. The third, a nifty fake into a hook shot, caught the 7-foot-2 Maluach on his toes looking for a block. What Venning lacked in height and reach on Maluach he made up for in finesse, reminding Blue Devil fans of the horrors DJ Burns Jr. brought upon them twice last season.
Venning’s work in the post helped open up shots and driving lanes for his teammates, and Boston College seized some early momentum to take a 13-9 lead heading into the first media timeout. The Eagles began the game 6-for-10 from the field, an impressive number against a Blue Devil defense surrendering just a 36.6% field-goal rate this season. Instead of forcing shots and creating turnovers, Duke gave up multiple back cuts and offensive rebounds.
Back to basics
After Boston College’s early run, head coach Jon Scheyer and the Blue Devils simplified things on offense to settle down. Junior point guard Tyrese Proctor orchestrated a ball screen from Ngongba, read the defensive coverage and fed the big man for a layup. Coming off a media timeout on the next offensive possession, graduate Sion James looked inside once again, this time finding Maluach for an easy dunk. Duke continued to work the ball in the paint for two more buckets before Proctor lit one up from deep to give the Blue Devils their first lead of the night. Still, the Eagles hung around and continued to work through Venning to head into the under-eight media timeout knotted at 22.
Getting to the line
While the Blue Devils weren’t completely comfortable at times in their half-court offense, they were successful in getting to the free-throw line. Every time Venning switched on to Flagg, the freshman cleared out the paint and drove to the bucket. The result: two fouls on Venning and seven first-half free throws for Flagg. Allowing Flagg to see the ball go through the net and put Venning into foul trouble sucked the momentum out of the Eagles on both ends of the court, as they finished the half in nowhere near the form they started it with. Even when Dion Brown came up with a pretty spin move for a Boston College bucket, Flagg one-upped him with an and-one on the other end. Two more free throws came from freshman Isaiah Evans, who brought his total to five with a catch-and-shoot triple.
Player of the half: Tyrese Proctor
Proctor was the calm inside the storm for the Blue Devils in the first half. Entering the game as overwhelming favorites, Duke played tight as Boston College kept things close. Starting alongside three freshmen, the Sydney native was there to help his team take a deep breath, providing a steady 10 points to go along with an assist and a steal. In addition to handling the ball in the pick and roll, Proctor finished the half with two big triples, not including an impressive deep ball off the dribble that was later reversed to a 2-pointer. However, Proctor was forced to take a seat on the bench with 5:53 remaining after picking up his second foul going for a steal.
After Proctor hit the pine, Flagg carried the bulk of the offensive load. As the half drew to a close, Flagg slammed home the type of rim-breaking dunk that has become routine, flexing to the sideline afterwards.
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Dom Fenoglio is a Trinity junior and a sports managing editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.