Preview: #9 Duke Blue Devils (2-1) vs. Bucknell (1-3)

Overall Duke leads, 3-0
In Durham, NC 3-0
at Cameron Indoor Stadium 3-0
Last Meeting Duke, 84-50 (January 2, 2006)

Stream: ACC Network
Play-by-Play: Mike Monaco
Analyst: Tim Welsh
Watch Link: Watch Live

Radio: Blue Devil Sports Net.
Play-by-Play: David Shumate
Analyst: John Roth
Engineer: John Rose
In Durham: 96.5 FM & 620 AM
SiriusXM: 139 or 193

Last season saw the Bison post a 12-20 record and finish 10th in the Patriot League. A coaching change at Bucknell now puts John Griffin III in position to face the Blue Devils in only his 5th game at Bucknell. Griffin previously was an associate head coach at Saint Joseph’s and was on the bench at Bucknell from 2015-2019 as an assistant.

Bucknell is currently 1-3 so far this season, having picked up its first win of the year against Niagara, 73-64, on Nov. 11. They are coming off of a loss to La Salle in their first game of the Blue Devil Challenge, their 3rd loss in 4 games.

Senior guard Jack Forrest is leading the Bison in scoring at 16.8 points per game, he’s also averaging 5 rebounds. Forrest scored 27 in the loss to La Salle – going 8-12 and adding 9 boards. The bison also have 2 other double figure scorers in this early part of the season in sophomore center Noah Williamson at 11.5 points per game to go with his 7 rebounds and 10 from junior guard Elvin Edmonds.

The Blue Devils rebounded for a win against Michigan State in the Champions Classic after a tough loss to Arizona at home. Caleb Foster exploded for 18 points, including 4-of-5 from long range, to lead the Blue Devils past the Spartans in Duke’s second ranked matchup within the first three games to take the Blue Devils to 2-1 on the season.

Kyle Filipowski leads the Blue Devils in scoring and rebounding in this early part of the season averaging 21.7 points per game and nearly 8 boards. Senior guard Jeremy Roach is average 12.7 points and 3.7 assists in 3 games this season and both Caleb Foster and Mark Mitchell are at 11 points per game. Sophomore point guard Tyrese Proctor is averaging 6.3 assists to only 1.3 turnovers so far on the season – leading the Blue Devils in that category.

G Jeremy Roach 6’2, 180lbs SR
G Tyrese Proctor 6’5, 183lbs SO
G Jared McCain 6’3, 197lbs FR
F Mark Mitchell  6’9, 232lbs SO
C Kyle Filipowski 7’0, 248lbs SO

G Elvin Edmonds IV 6’2, 210lbs JR
G Jack Forrest 6’5, 208lbs SR
F Ian Motta 6’6, 198lbs JR
F Ruot Bijiek 6’9, 187lbs SO
C Noah Williamson 7’0, 244lbs SO

After 3 games for the Blue Devils it’s clear that the offense is well behind the defense – not completely unexpected. Jon Scheyer and company need to use these next few games to iron out the kinks in what should be a much more efficient offense. Even in the win against Michigan State there issues with spacing from time to time and the occasional bad shot. The assist numbers, however, were much better for Duke. With lineups still in flux this would be a good game to get some good reps to solidify the  starting lineup and for sub-lineups that need reps to gel.

The offense being behind the defense does not mean the defense has been a thing of beauty. The Blue Devils benefitted from some bad shooting in the first half of the Michigan State game. The Spartans got some wide open looks at the basket that just didn’t fall. Those looks came on miscommunications by Duke defensively that hopefully they can address during this 3-game stretch.

Working inside out would be an optimal way for the Blue Devils to get their shooters going but there is an onus on the shooters to move without the basketball to help the bigs find alleyways for passes out of double-teams. There’s a sense that freshman Jared McCain is going to explode soon and this Blue Devils Challenge could be the avenue for the freshman to get some good looks and see some shots go down.