To the average fan of college basketball, Duke winning a game they were technically supposed to win isn’t a big deal – they are a top-10 team; it’s what’s supposed to happen, but anyone who knows the Duke, follows Duke and their luck with early ACC road games knows this was something of note for Jon Scheyer. It hasn’t been smooth sailing in the early going for Duke under Scheyer in initial road ACC games. Even with a small sample size, it’s been concerning, and probably more so to Jon himself.
So far, under now 3rd year coach Jon Scheyer, that first toe-dip into road ACC games has been more like a whirlpool. It’s been rife with double-digit scoring deficits and comebacks that never really came to fruition.
In Jon Scheyer’s first season, the 14th ranked Blue Devils were down 9 at the half to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, who extended that lead to 15 points. The Blue Devils rallied, but still fell short, losing by double-digits in Jon Scheyer’s first ACC road game. In that game, the Blue Devils were out rebounded 37-39 and gave up 21 points off of their 13 turnovers. Wake Forest, in that game, shot nearly 50% from the field, with 5 players scoring in double digits, led by Tyree Appleby with 18, while Duke could not eclipse the 30% threshold from beyond the arc. In Duke’s defense, they were without both Dereck Lively and Dariq Whitehead but had been on a 4-game winning streak prior to that game.
The following season, Scheyer’s second, the Blue Devils entered their first ACC road game against Georgia Tech, their second road game in a row after losing to Arkansas in Fayetteville. The Blue Devils, for the second year in a row, were behind at the half, this time by 4 to the Yellow Jackets. Once again, the Blue Devils had trouble shooting the ball, and once again could not reach the 30% mark from distance, while the Yellow Jackets began the game on a 12-2 run, hitting four straight three-pointers.
In year 3, just last night, the Blue Devils once again fell behind on the road and had to overcome a deficit. Louisville began the game on a 10-3 run on their way to a 14-point lead, which the Blue Devils cut to 4 before the half.
The common denominator in all 3 games for Duke teams under Scheyer was shooting the 3; year 1 it was 29.63%, last season, 25.0%, and this season 26.67%. Shots are going to be missed, and it’s always going to be easier to make them at home versus on the road. What should travel well for teams is defense. Duke, last night, proved that once they settle in, collect themselves and as I believe Johnny Dawkins once said, “Withstand the whuppin” they can play good basketball and push past the adversity. The key difference between this team and Jon Scheyer’s first 2 is that this team was able to right the ship. The second half saw the Blue Devils clamp down defensively and not just even the score but overtake a hot-shooting ACC team on their home floor, ending the game on a 23-10 run. Duke never really found their shooting stroke but found other ways to score, but most importantly, they were staunch on the defensive end. They showed toughness, reversing a rebounding margin in the first half from 14-21 to 21-13 in the second half and holding Louisville to just 20% shooting from beyond the arc and 31% overall in the half. Duke won on the back of not just their star freshman scoring – he was on the bench for Duke’s most important stretch—they did it with experience – the defense and toughness of Maliq Brown, the finishing of Tyrese Proctor and a group that decided that enough was enough.
The hope, for Duke fans, is this is a key moment in the Jon Scheyer tenure – that the mass exodus of transfers from this past season and the influx of older transfers and more seasoned freshman is going to make a difference this year. It’s early, but a very good first step and first sign.
