Duke Tames the Black Bears 96-62; Kon Knueppel Scores 22 in College Debut; Cooper Flagg with 18

It was really hard to know what expect from Duke with the way Duke dismantled Arizona State in their final exhibition. I think that game said a lot more about Arizona State than it did about Duke – but it did show that when Duke is kicking on all cylinders their opponent needs to be on the A game. Against Maine I expected a fight for the first 10 minutes of the game, the fight lasted a little longer. Duke was not especially crisp in their 96-62 victory and they probably didn’t shoot how they expected but it definitely gave Jon Scheyer some things to really get into his team about.

The Black Bears kept the game close throughout the first half after falling behind by 17 they whittled the Duke lead down to 11 at the half. The Blue Devils were lackadaisical at times – especially on the defensive glass allowing the Black Bears to get 6 offensive rebounds. The Black Bears actually led the Devils in rebounding in the first 20 minutes 18-16. Credit to the Black Bears they were monsters of the mid-range hitting more fadeaway jumpers than I’ve ever seen in a half of basketball.

The second half saw the Blue Devil defense tighten up on their closeouts on those mid-range jump shots Maine was living off of in the first half. The Blue Devils also put forth a much better effort on the defensive glass, only allowing 1 offensive rebound in the second half to the Black Bears while collecting 7 of their own. Duke was +15 on the boards in the second half.

The Blue Devils were paced by freshman Kon Knueppel who scored a game high 22 points in his first official college game. The freshman forward went 8-14 from the floor, 3-8 from 3 and added 4 rebounds. Cooper Flagg added 18 points in a stat stuffing performance that saw the 17 year old add 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals.

The Blue Devils shot the ball much better in the second half turning a first half performance beyond the arc of 33% to a second half output of 42.9% averaging out to 37.9% for the game. The Blue Devils out-rebounded the Black Bears 40-27 which was impressive considering they entered the second half with a 2 rebound deficit.

Jon Scheyer’s team enjoyed an 18-9 advantage in fast break points and a points in the paint advantage of 44-30. Next up for the Blue Devils is a date with Army on Friday night.