#6 Duke Blue Devils (2-0, 0-0 ACC) vs. Army Black Knights (1-1, 0-0 Pat)
Tuesday, Nov. 11 • 7:00 p.m. ET
Christl Arena • West Point, NY
TV: CBS Sports
The 2-0 Duke Blue Devils travels to West Point, NY to face the 1 -1 Army Black Knights on Veterans Day with Coach K in attendance.
Coach Jon Scheyer on the matchup:
“We started to have conversations for this game about two and a half years ago. And there’s a couple parts to it, obviously. To honor all our veterans, on Veterans Day, that’s a special thing to be playing at West Point for that reason. But then also, to honor Coach K. He’ll come on the trip with us, and it’ll be strange being on a flight with him. I don’t know if he’ll be watching film or not. Maybe my first time on a flight with him where he’s not watching film. Or he won’t be watching film. Who knows? To share this with him, to share this experience with our players, and then obviously, to play a road game, right away, I think will be a great, great thing. A ton of respect for Army and their coaching staff, their team, and I’m looking forward to it.”
Broadcast Information
TV CBS Sports Net.
Play-by-Play Tom McCarthy
Analyst Steve Lappas
Reporter Jon Rothstein
Director Jonathan Segal
Radio Blue Devil Sports Net.
Play-by-Play David Shumate
Analyst John Roth
Engineer John Rose
In Durham 96.5 FM & 620 AM
SiriusXM 160 or 193 & SiriusXM app
History
Last Meeting:
Duke 100, Army 58
First meeting:
Duke 100 Army 38
Last 9 meetings:
Duke: 9 wins – 0 losses
The Coaches
Duke Jon Scheyer (Duke ‘10)
Career Record / at Duke 91-22 (4th) / same
vs. Army West Point 1-0
Army West Point Kevin Kuwik (Notre Dame ‘96)
Career Record / at School 28-39 (3rd) / same
vs. Duke 0-1
Army Black Knights
The Black Knights enter the season 1-1 after going 17-16 last season, posting a 10-8 conference record and a home record of 12-4. The Black Knights lost in the first round of the Patriot League Tournament and won their first game in the Purple College Basketball Invitational against Elon. Army loses their top 2 scorers and their top rebounder from last season’s team but return Ryan Curry, their top assist man who also scored 12.5 points per game last season. They also return now sophomore Jalen Holloway who looks to take a leap this season and Jorn Everson who enters his senior year out of North Dakota who averaged just under 5 points per game.
Last Time Out:
The Black Knights went on the road to face St. Thomas of the Summit League and were defeated 83-76. Though down by 16 at the half, the Black Knights outscored St. Thomas by 8 in the second half. Jorn Iverson and Jalen Holloway led Army with 16 points each, combining to go 3-8 from beyond the arc. Everyone grabbed 7 boards and dished 3 assists in the loss, their first of the season.
Duke Blue Devils
The Blue Devils are coming off of a 35-4 season that saw them within a game of a title shot. Duke went 19-1 in conference, winning both the regular season and the ACC Tournament.
The Blue Devils welcome in a number 1 recruiting class after their Final Four run. Jon Scheyer after losing his entire starting lineup to the NBA but retaining core pieces with experience. Leading Duke are experienced returners senior big Maliq Brown and junior guard Caleb Foster, both instrumental pieces in Duke’s run this past season. Duke also returned 3 members from last season freshman class in hot shooting Isaiah Evans, who shot a team high 41.6%. Duke also brings back Darren Harris who has reshaped his body in hopes for a larger role and Patrick Ngongba who similarly has reshaped his frame, coming into this season healthy.
Duke’s freshman class includes the Boozer brothers, Cayden and Cameron, do-it-all forward Nik Khamenia and Italian import Dame Sarr. Duke also added reserves Jack Scott and Ifeanyi Ufochukwu, from Princeton and Rice, respectively. Duke also added Sebastian Wilkins, who has elected to redshirt this season.
Last Time Out:
Duke beat up on Western Carolina to the tune of 95-54, with Cam Boozer pacing the Devils with 25 points and 8 rebounds.
Duke faced a tough Texas Longhorn team coached by Sean Miller in game 1. Duke struggled in the first half but were able to pull away in the second half for a 75-60 win led by sophomore flamethrower Isaiah Evans. Evans scored a career high 23 points in the win. Freshman Cam Boozer, despite going scoreless in the first half, notched his first double-double in his first career game, scoring 15 points and pulling down 13 rebounds.
Projected Starters
Duke Blue Devils
G Caleb Foster 6’4, 205lbs Jr.
G Isaiah Evans 6’6, 180lbs So.
G Dame Sarr 6’8, 190lbs Fr.
F Cameron Boozer 6’9, 250lbs Fr.
C Patrick Ngongba 6’11, 250lbs So.
Army Black Knights
G Ryan Curry 6’1, 185lbs Jr.
G Kevin McCarthy 6’4, 192lbs So.
F Jacen Holloway 6’4, 225lbs So.
F Jorn Everson 6’8, 210lbs Sr.
F Tate Laczowski 6’9, 218lbs Jr.
Final Thoughts
2 games in and the Blue Devils have 2 wins under their collective belt. As for the identity of this team, that’s still in flux. Jon Scheyer’s team has shown flashes of what they can be, but has yet to put it together for a full 40. The shooting will come and in time, and that isn’t something I believe the staff is worried about. What Duke needs is a consistent defensive effort and to show an ability to get multiple stops in succession, but the most important thing this young team needs to figure out is rebounding. Some of it will just be reps and forming good habits, but it’s something Duke has to figure out fairly quickly. I don’t foresee this Army team being formidable against Duke’s size and talent, but Army is always a scrappy team and will have a crowd behind them. It’s a good game for Duke to get themselves together and as Coach Scheyer stated, they haven’t been together in full health for more than a week or so at this point, so some issues in terms of timing aren’t to be wholly unexpected. This is a good game to get that situated.