Expectations are a funny thing in sports, they can very easily muddy the waters of fans appreciation. It’s hard not to fall prey to that coming off of a Final Four run for Duke fans, especially one where the wins came so easily for most of the season. 2025-26 is a different animal for Jon Scheyer. This doesn’t mean this team’s ceiling isn’t just as high, but that it won’t look the same – and that’s ok. Something Jon Scheyer said after last night’s game has stuck with me a morning later, Scheyer remarked, “I think I’ve got to remind myself, sometimes you [don’t have to] focus on just the negatives.”
Duke beat Texas in the first game of the season, had times when they looked incredible and times when they looked like what you’d expect from a team that hasn’t been together very long. They still won that game by 15. It’s odd to call a game after a double-digit victory a get-right game, but for some reason, Western Carolina kind of felt like it. I’m not sure that it ended up as a get-right game, but definitely showed Jon Scheyer what this team needs to work on.
The game began with a turnover for Duke, off a big to big pass, and while Duke only turned the ball over 10 times for the game. Things just seemed a bit off. There was no dynamism to the offense, probably due to dual bad games by Duke’s 2 starting wings. Isaiah Evans, who went for 23 points against Texas was held in check to the tune of just 7 points, and Dame Sarr who showed incredible athleticism scored just 2 points. The two wings combined for 1-12 shooting, and neither hit a 3-pointer in the game. The game was never particularly in doubt, with Duke up by 23 at the half. It just didn’t feel dominating – Is that because of what we saw last season? Admittedly, I’m not certain. Duke did get a dominating performance from freshman Cam Boozer who scored 25 points on 8-15 shooting, the freshman forward also poured in 5 assists and grabbed 8 boards, shooting 4-9 from beyond the arc. Cam’s brother Caleb added 14 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists of his own. Maliq Brown and Patrick Ngongba each added 10 points. Brown notched his first double-digit performance as a Blue Devil and 26th in his career. Brown shot a perfect 4-for-4 from the field, including draining a three-pointer in the second half. So it wasn’t as if Duke didn’t perform well offensively for the most part, it just didn’t feel like it – again, I’m not sure why. Defensively, Duke held Western Carolina to just 54 points, which, on paper, is very good, but watching the game there were several instances where Duke could have really choked the life out of this team defensively but couldn’t secure the defensive exchange. Duke gave up 15 offensive rebounds to a much smaller team, including an athletic put back dunk by a guard caused by a lack of guard boxing out.
There are several mitigating factors for this being a bit of a sleepwalk game. Coming off of an emotional win against Texas, a lesser marquee game can feel, a bit, underwhelming for both players and fans. Also, this team is built around a lot of youth and guys playing different roles this year, and it’s going to take time for this team to get anywhere near their apex. For me, shooting isn’t as important as defense and rebounding because in a game like this, where the result isn’t really in doubt, Jon Scheyer is coaching habit and hustle mores than a specific result. There was plenty of hustle, including several sequences of Duke players diving on the floor after loose balls, those are the pluses – that’s a check for hustle. But the lack of boxing out on the defensive end is a habit Duke has to break, and soon. The margin for error for this team isn’t last years. Jon Scheyer mentioned it in his post-game presser, “We’re growing. We’re building. I’m proud of this team, and we’ve got to continue to embrace where we are and understand what we have to do better. A lot of it is really simple things, to be honest, and then get back to work.” Something Maliq Brown’s mom said to me as we left Cameron after the game when I told her how happy I was to see Maliq healthy and playing again, and this may be the mantra we all need to have going forward. She said, “slow and steady“.