Preview: #9 Duke Blue Devils (4-1) vs. Southern Indiana (1-5)

Overall First Meeting

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Southern Indiana comes into Cameron Indoor Stadium with a 1-5 record after dropping their first 2 games in the Blue Devil Challenge. This season marks the second full season playing Division 1. Last year, in their first year of Division I play, the Screaming Eagles earned a spot in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament and a spot in the College Basketball Invitational.

In their inaugural season the Screaming Eagles posted a 16-19 record going 9-9 in the Ohio Valley Conference but lost their top 6 players from that squad. Those 6 players accounted for 67.3 points, 29.4 and 9.6 assists.

This season the Screaming Eagles are led by a trio of guards averaging in double-figures. Jeremiah Hernandez and AJ Smith top the scoring tally for the Screaming Eagles at 12.3 each per game. Smith also leads the Eagles in rebounds at 8.7 per game from the guard spot. Sophomore guard Jordan Tillman rounds out the double figure scoring for the Eagles at 10 per game. Junior guard Jeremiah Hernandez posted back-to-back career nights in scoring versus Chicago State and Tiffin. Hernandez started with 18 points versus Chicago State University and followed it up with a career-high 24 points in their win over Tiffin.

The Blue Devils roll into Friday at 4-1 on the season. Duke returns 60.4 points per game from last year’s roster, the most by a Duke team since the 2008-09 season, and brings back 77.9% of points scored in 2022-23 — the most since the 2007-08 Duke team returned 81.3%. Each of the Blue Devils’ top-four scorers from a year ago are on the 2023-24 roster, which is the first time since at least 1997 — as far back as research allows — according to ESPN.

After 5 games sophomore Kyle Filipowsi leads the Blue Devils in scoring at 18.4 points per game, Filipowski also leads the Blue Devils in rebounding at 6.8 per game. Mark Mitchell and Tyrese Proctor are also scoring in double-figures for the Blue Devils at 13.5 and 12.8 respectively with Proctor leading the team in assists at 5.4 per game. Senior guard Jeremy Roach rounds out the double-figure scoring at 10.2 per game.

In Duke’s last game against La Salle, Tyrese Proctor scored a career-high 22 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field and a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line. Freshman Sean Stewart tallied the first double-double of his young career, playing 17 minutes off the bench and pouring in 16 points and grabbing 10 boards. Tyrese Proctor has been a master of the floor game for the Blue Devils dishing 27 assists to only 4 turnovers all season including 3 straight games with zero turnovers.

On the season sos far the Blue Devils are shooting 36.4% from the beyond the arc and shooting 50% from the field overall.

G Jeremy Roach 6’2, 180lbs SR
G Tyrese Proctor 6’5, 183lbs SO
G Jared McCain 6’3, 197lbs FR
F Mark Mitchell  6’9, 232lbs SO
C Kyle Filipowski 7’0, 248lbs SO

G Sam Mervis 5’11, 175lbs JR
G Jeremiah Hernandez 6’4, 180lbs JR
G AJ Smith 6’6, 215lbs SO
F Jack Mielke 6’7, 220lbs JR
C Kiyron Powell 6’8, 210lbs SO

The Screaming Eagles are a team desperate for a win and their guard are scorers, unfortunately for Southern Indiana they are shooting sub 30% from beyond the arc. The low numbers don’t mean much until the game is played and having watched this team play – they can get hot. Jon Scheyer need to challenge the Blue Devils to approach this game with the same urgency they would against a top 10 team as there is a lot the Blue Devils need to work on and perfect – and a big one in my eyes is their attention to detail as well as their energy. We know the crowds for holiday basketball aren’t the best with students being out en masse but this team needs to manufacture the energy and feed off of each other.

Duke will have a significant height advantage with Southern Indiana. With Southern Indiana not starting a player over 6’8 and only play one player over 6’9. Duke should be able to have their way inside against this team. This would be an excellent game for Duke to continue to work on starting quickly and building their offensive cohesion to put together a 40 minute game. This is also a game where the Blue Devils can work in their younger players off the bench like Sean Stewart who has shown flashes of being someone that could really be a big part of the rotation in the front court. It’s still unknown as to if Christian Reeves will see action having missed the last 2 games but if he’s healthy this could be a game to get the 7-footer some good reps and make him a viable option in the post.

As I mentioned earlier, coming out strong against Southern Indiana is a must with an ailing Arkansas team waiting in the wings and in desperate need for a rebounding win.