Game Preview: Duke hosts Incarnate Word

The Blue Devils step outside of ACC play to battle the Incarnate Word Cardinals in Cameron Indoor Stadium on Tuesday night.

Incarnate Word Cardinals

The University of the Incarnate Word (UIW), located in San Antonio, Texas, competes as NCAA Division I members of the Southland Conference. Tuesday will be the first meeting between the Blue Devils and UIW Cardinals. The Cardinals are coming into Cameron off of a 12-point win against East Texas A&M University, 65-53. UIW currently has a 5-4 record with a 1-1 record in conference.

UIW ranks fourth in the nation in three-point field goal percentage, making 42.6% from long distance. UIW sophomore 6-7 guard/forward Jordan Pyke (Greensboro, NC) is fifth in the country in field goal percentage (.712), while 6-3 point guard Jalin Anderson ranks ninth in assists per game (7.0) and 6-4 guard Davion Bailey is 12th in three pointers per game (3.63).

Duke Blue Devils

The Blue Devils are fresh off of their first ACC win. Duke mounted a successful 14-point comeback against Louisville on the road to get the first win by a Jon Scheyer team in their initial ACC road game. The game saw several outstanding individual performances including a 20-piece by freshman Cooper Flagg who also added 12 rebounds. Maliq Brown continued his stellar defensive presence for the Blue Devils, while also pulling down 11 rebounds and 3 steals on his way to a +24 performance.

The Blue Devils rank eighth in the country in field goal percentage defense (.366), 18th in scoring defense (61.4), 19th in scoring margin (+19.1) and 20th in 3-pointers per game (10.6). Duke is the tallest team in the country, according to KenPom, with an average height of
79.6 inches, better than 6-7 per Blue Devil.

Duke currently checks in at 7 wins and 2 losses so far on the season. They are led by Cooper Flagg in several categories; including points 17, rebounds 9, and assists 3.8. The Blue Devils boast 2 other double-figure scores in freshman Kon Knueppel who is averaging 12.4 points per game and 3.6 assists and Tyrese Proctor who also scores at 12.4 points per game.

Final Thoughts

Incarnate Word provides Duke a very good opportunity. The biggest flaw in an otherwise juggernaut of a defense for the Blue Devils has been guard exchanges/switches; they’ve aided in Duke’s slow starts. Incarnate Word is a top 5 shooting team in the country and a team what can burn the Blue Devils from the perimeter if Duke doesn’t shore up those holes in their process. Unlike Louisville, this version of the Cardinals aren’t shooting 3’s over everything, they are shooting good 3’s when they present themselves. The Cardinals are averaging close to 80 points per contest, and while I think the Blue Devils should win handily; there is the possibility of them getting exposed on the perimeter. There haven’t been many practice days since the Louisville game, so one would assume that the Blue Devils at very least got in some film work – if you’ve seen any of JMannsTakes he goes into wonderful detail as to what Duke needs to do better.

Offensively, Duke has been a bit sluggish in the first halves of games, some of that is teams forcing the Blue Devils to play in the half court, which for a young team like the Blue Devils is going to be behind the transition offense.  While these struggles in the half court are concerning, it was always the expectation – the hope is that over the next month Duke can find their rhythm there. Finding some of that against Incarnate Word would be a perfect first step for Jon Scheyers team.