Preview: #2 Duke Blue Devils (25-3, 16-1 ACC) vs. Florida State Seminoles (16-12, 7-10 ACC)

#2 Duke Blue Devils (25-3, 16-1 ACC) vs. Florida State Seminoles (16-12, 7-10 ACC)

Saturday, March 1 • 7 p.m. ET

Cameron Indoor Stadium (9,314) • Durham, NC

TV: ACC Network

Radio: Blue Devil Sports Network from LEARFIELD

The Duke Blue Devils return to Cameron Indoor Stadium to face the Florida State Seminoles on Saturday on the ACC Network.

TV/Video Stream ACC Network
Play-by-Play Wes Durham
Analyst Terrance Oglesby
Producer Will Black
Director Chad Lampman

Radio Blue Devil Sports Network
Play-by-Play David Shumate
Analyst John Roth
Engineer John Rose
In Durham 96.5 FM & 620 AM
SiriusXM 84

Overall Duke leads, 44-11
In Durham, NC Duke leads, 24-2
at Cameron Indoor Stadium Duke leads, 24-2
In Tallahassee, FL Duke leads, 17-8
at Tucker Center Duke leads, 17-8
Neutral Sites Duke leads, 2-1
Last Meeting Duke 76, @FSU 67 (Feb. 17, 2024)

In the swan song season for Leonard Hamilton, he has his Florida State Seminoles at 16-12 overall and an ACC record of 7-10, good for 9th in the league. Florida State tops the ACC in blocks per game (4.8), steals per game (7.9), and turnovers forced per game (13.9). The Seminoles also top the ACC in trips to the free throw line, attempting 23.2 free throws per game, while ranking second in the conference with 16.6 free throws made per contest.

Senior guard Jamir Watkins leads the Seminoles in scoring at 18.4 per game, he is joined my Malique Ewin (14pts) as the only double figure scorers for Florida State. Ewin also leads the Seminoles in rebounding at 7.8 per game. Freshman Daquan Davis leads Florida State in assists per game at 2.6 per contest.

The Blue Devils own a 25-3 record and an ACC mark of 16-1. The Blue Devils lead the country in scoring margin (+21.6) and rank third in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (+1.81), third in effective field goal percentage (.580), fifth in field goal percentage defense (.384), seventh in scoring defense (61.0), eighth in three-point percentage (.391), ninth in field goal percentage (.492), 11th in rebound margin (+8.1), 14th in assists per game (17.2), 17th in scoring offense (82.6), 18th in three-pointers per game (10.4) and 31st in three-point percentage defense (.304) – all top marks in the ACC. Duke is the only team in the country ranked among the top-four in both offensive (2nd) and defensive efficiency (4th), according to KenPom. Duke is the only Division I team to score 80 points or more per game (82.6) and hold its opponents to 61 points or fewer per game (61.0).

Cooper Flagg became the first ACC player to amass 500 points, 100 assists and 30 blocks in the regular season in the last 25 years. Flagg is the only player who ranks among the ACC’s top-10 in all five major statistical categories – scoring (3rd), rebounding (8th), assists (8th), steals (9th) and blocks (10th). Flagg is averaging 19.4 points, 7.6 boards and 4.1 assists to lead Duke in all 3 categories. Kon Knueppel is averaging 13.5 points per game, he is averaging 17.3 points in the last three games, connecting on 17-of-29 (.586) from the field and 8-of-13 (.615) from long distance. In the last 11 games, Sion James has distributed 41 assists to just 10 turnovers, a 4.1 assist to turnover ratio. James ranks third in the ACC in that category (2.8). Tyrese Proctor, who is questionable for the Florida State game with a bone bruise, is averaging 11.8 points per game. Proctor became the 70th Blue Devil to score 1,000 career points during the first half at Miami. He has now amassed has 1,004 points in three seasons at Duke. Isaiah Evans has averaged 16.7 points in the last three games, shooting 16-of-25 (.640) from the field, including 13-of-19 (.684) from long distance. He leads the Blue Devils in 3-point field goal percentage at 47%.

PG Sion James 6’6, 220lbs – Grad Transfer
*SG Tyrese Proctor 6’6, 183lbs – Junior
SF Kon Knueppel 6’7, 217lbs – Freshman
PF Cooper Flagg 6’9, 205lbs – Freshman
C Khaman Maluach 7’2, 250lbs – Freshman

*No word as of right now as to the status of Tyrese Proctor, my guess would be he does not play and the start goes to freshman Isaiah Evans.

G Daquan Davis 6’1, 176lbs – Freshman
G Chandler Jackson 6’5, 205lbs – Junior
G Jamir Watkins 6’7, 210lbs – Reshirt Senior
F Taylor Bol Bowen 6’10, 205lbs – Sophomore
F Malique Ewin 6’11, 230lbs – Junior

The Blue Devils will face a team that nearly matches them in size in Florida State. They are a unique blend of players, with Jamir Watkins being the most offensively gifted. He’s coming off of a 26 point outing against North Carolina, where he shot 7-12 from the field, including 3-6 from 3-point range. Duke will need to figure out how to contain Watkins and do so possibly without Tyrese Proctor, one of their best perimeter defenders. The X-Factor for me is the shooting of Taylor Bol Bowen and Jerry Deng, both can play off the dribble and have streaky shots but both on the season are above 36% with Bowen being at 39%. They are long, wiry players, that court mismatches could very well be an advantage for the Seminoles as they use that size to get open looks. Chasing Florida State off the line isn’t enough as they can operate well in the mid-range when they have it going, especially the aforementioned Watkins.

Offensively for the Blue Devils, playing a team with similar length, ball movement and cutting will be key. Duke has been very precise with both and that, from what I’ve seen, is an Achilles heel for the Seminoles. I think this game could be a lot closer than some anticipate, but I do believe the Blue Devils just have more in the tank, even with possibly being minus Maliq Brown and Tyrese Proctor.