The Blue Devils needed to something to take the taste out of their mouths from a defeat that should not have been. No one who watched Duke drop their first loss of the season to Kentucky walked away thinking Duke should have lost that game. It was a combination of legs, shooting and mental mistakes that cost Duke that game. And a game against Wofford was needed to exorcise those demons of defeat.
After Woffored scored the first 2 points of the game, the Blue Devils went on a 24-5 run building a 19 point lead by 10 minute mark of the first half. They would follow that up with a 27-5 run to end the half and effectively the game – walking into the locker room with a 51-14 lead. There wasn’t a whole lot that needed to be adjusted in the second half for the Blue Devils the only thing in question was if walk-on Spencer Hubbard would get minutes…he did.
Duke would go on to win 86-35 after slowing the game down in the second half and experimenting with some unconventional lineups. Duke was able to get good bench minutes and points against Wofford including the first game action for freshman center Patrick Ngongba who scored his first points, going 1-1. Ngongba also grabbed 6 rebounds and dished 2 assists in 11 minutes of play for the Blue Devils. Duke also got some extended minutes from freshman Isaiah Evans who showed why he was a consensus 5 Star recruit. Evans hit 4 of his 7 3-pointers scoring a career high 14 points. Tyrese Proctor led the Blue Devils scoring with 15 points omitted 5-9 shooting, including 4-7 from from beyond the arc. Caleb Foster and Khaman Maluach round out the double figure scoring with Foster adding 13 on 4-6 shooting and Maluach scoring 11 points.
Freshman Cooper Flagg didn’t score a lot but he didn’t need to. Flagg went 3-8 for 8 points but stuffed the stat sheet with 9 rebounds to lead Duke, he also added 6 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks.
The Blue Devils out rebounded the Terriers 43-29, scored 17 points off of 19 Wofford turnovers and only gave up 3 fast break points. Offensively the Blue Devils totaled 24 assists, a huge contrast from what they did in their previous outing.
DUKE HEAD COACH JON SCHEYER
Opening Statement
“A great bounce back game. Really proud of how we shared the ball today. We’ve talked a lot about the process of the season, how no matter what, win or lose, how you respond is really important. Sharing the ball is a great sign of our guys responding to Tuesday night. Cooper [Flagg] and Sion [James] in particular. They didn’t score a lot of points, and it would be very easy for one of those guys to try to hunt in the second half, but they’re just making the right plays. That’s contagious. The defense gave up the least amount of points since ‘68, so I like that. I also see, as a coach, [Wofford] missed a lot of open shots. We have to clean [that] up and be better. I’m proud of our team, proud of the character that this group has, the competitiveness to come out and be ready. Not just to play, but to compete at a high level.”
On responding to the Kentucky loss:
“Great response. No matter what, it’s their first time, in that situation, where a team can really make you pay if you don’t win the details. The easy baskets we gave up in transition really were the difference. And we had a few sequences. We had wide open shots when we were up and we missed – the result can’t be then giving [Kentucky] a three-point-play or giving them a layup. We had several five, six-point swings, going from missing wide open ones and then giving it up. That’s part of our growth and maturity. I want that to happen now. These guys want it to happen now. It was very positive when you really look at it and say, we control this stuff. We can control getting back [on defense] and taking away easy baskets. We can control our positioning on the floor. I’m a lucky man. We have a group of guys that are coachable. We addressed everything with complete transparency. And these guys always want to get better, so it makes it easy.”
On extending the lineup to 13 players today:
“It was good. It’s hard with our schedule, because six of our guys have never played college basketball before. There’s an evolution of how they grow individually, and also how our team grows at the same time. It’s not like you’re afforded opportunities to experiment. Every game is a little bit of an experiment, because it’s my first time with all these guys except Caleb [Foster] and Tyrese [Proctor]. We have 11 good players, but it’s hard to play 11 guys. How deep can you go? Who can be ready? A lot of it comes down to defense and rebounding. But I’m looking and I’m well aware. Just because we start a certain way, or play a certain way now, doesn’t mean it’s going to end up that way. This is a long process of how we have to grow throughout the season.”
On emphasizing what doesn’t show up on the stat sheet for younger players:
“Did one of our guys tell you to ask this question? Because it’s right on brand with what we’ve been talking about. We talk about ‘the 98%’ a lot. The 98% is everything on the court when you don’t have the ball. When you really think about it, 2% of the time you have the ball. We always talk about focusing on the 98%, because that’s what impacts winning. It’s sprinting back on defense. Screening. Making the extra pass. It’s pick and roll defense, it’s off-ball defense, it’s running the floor both ways. I think for young players, for all six of our [freshmen], I would say, for the most part, they valued themselves a lot on scoring in high school. It’s a big adjustment, from a role perspective, because they’re all in different roles. It’s also an adjustment for what the game requires you to do to win at this level. They’ve taken it, they’ve learned, and we’re going to continue to do the 98% even better going forward.”
JUNIOR GUARD TYRESE PROCTOR
“I think we lost the last game [against Kentucky] from our defense, [defensive transition], stuff like that. So, cleaning it up, learning from it, and we executed well today. Cleaning up [defensive transition], that was the biggest thing. We beat ourselves in that Kentucky game. We played hard, we competed every possession, but it was just little things defensively, miscommunications on split actions, rebounding. I think we just cleaned those things up, specifically [defensive transition].”
On Duke’s offensive success: “We were just flowing. Coach [Jon Scheyer] is always talking about finding the open man and extra passes. The offensive rebounds and back passes helped us get into that. It’s just scrambles, so if someone’s open, you find them. And, if not, you just attack the close-outs and play our basketball.”
On his early assertiveness on offense: “I just trust my work and I know it’s going to pay off. I try not to force it, but if I’m open and teams are going to keep going under [on screens], I’m going to keep shooting it and stay confident.”
When asked what Duke can take from a win like this: “Just seeing how we can respond after a loss. How we respond coming off adversity, and how we can keep playing together as a team. I think it’s good for the guys, just for their confidence. It’s such a roller coaster season. Coming off a loss to Kentucky, you’ve got to learn from it. It’s good for the confidence, but we’ve got a big game next and we’ve just got to get ready for that.”
On Duke making an effort to feed Khaman Maluach in the post on offense: “We’re definitely missing him [with passes] still, but I think it took until January [during the 2022-23 season] when I was playing with [Dereck Lively II], until we starting finding him consistently. We’ve just got to keep watching [for him], keep finding areas where we can get him quick ones, and keep throwing it up there.”
JUNIOR FORWARD MALIQ BROWN
When asked what his mindset is as a player who has a knack for making a lot of steals: “Just paying attention to film – a lot of film. Knowing a lot of reads, the actions, the plays. The matchups – whoever I’m guarding – just knowing their key moves or how they like to catch the ball. Every game is different and who I’m defending is different, so I’ve got to pay attention to that.”
When asked what his prior years of experience have taught him about how to contribute to a team with so much talent: “Just being ready when my name is called – at all times. Even if I’m coming into the game, I’m already in the game, or I’m subbing out. Take the criticism and listen to everybody – the coaches, the players, who see what I’m doing wrong or doing right, and just going back into the game with a high head and just being ready.”
