Families and Cameron Crazies alike packed Section 17 to watch the Blue Devils tip off their first exhibition game of the season. The parents’ weekend matchup against Lincoln University featured every available player on Duke’s roster, and the Blue Devils routed the Lions in a 107-56 victory.
“Part of the strength of our team is having depth,” said head coach Jon Scheyer. “I thought our guys did a really good job… but they’re not satisfied in the least bit.”
Nearly every new recruit saw the floor in the first half, showing off a promising range of Blue Devil strength and versatility. The start of the game was tight and featured several Blue Devil fouls. But while the Lions kept the Blue Devil advantage to just three with 11 minutes remaining, a flurry from Proctor, Flagg and Knueppel gave the team a commanding 56-34 lead at the half.
Caleb Foster, Kon Knueppel, Sion James, Cooper Flagg and Maliq Brown started the contest, with Scheyer opting to bring junior Tyrese Proctor off the pine. Flagg made his long-anticipated debut after he scored Duke’s first points of the night with a fadeaway jumper and blocked a Lion 3-pointer. The freshman’s first four field goals also swished through the net, and he logged a team-high six assists before heading into the locker room.
“For me, it just comes from trying to make the right play,” Flagg said. “Whether I’m scoring or not, I’m always trying to make the right pass, make the right read and crash the glass.”
Not to be outdone, Knueppel’s shooting made a statement of its own. Though the freshman missed his first 3-point attempt, he made good on 5-of-7 from behind the arc as the first half progressed. The Milwaukee native’s triples extended Duke’s lead to double digits, with a 45-28 stiff arm after his fifth 3-pointer.
Proctor, who subbed in for Mason Gillis with five minutes left in the first half, took longer to warm up and scored his first points of the night on a jumper with less than 13 minutes remaining in the first half. Though he struggled at first to sink shots from behind the arc, he found a rhythm as the half ticked down and eventually went 4-for-6 on first-half field goals. It was Proctor who broke the Blue Devils’ field-goal drought near the end of the first half, sinking a three to break the over three minutes of 0-of-5 shooting from behind the arc.
“I was just trying to get everyone to settle in,” Proctor said. “Obviously, I remember my first time in Cameron, a bit nervous.”
Duke’s defense shone as the Lions struggled to find open paths to the basket. Though Blue Devil fouls gave them several early opportunities at the free-throw line, key blocks and nine rebounds from 7-foot-2 freshman Khaman Maluach helped Duke build up its first-half lead against Lincoln.
Fouls plagued Duke in the first few minutes of the game, but it spent more total time at the charity stripe than Lincoln. The Blue Devils’ 69.2% shooting on 26 attempts from the free-throw line — as opposed to the Lions’ 7-of-12 — helped them creep ahead as the game progressed.
The start of the second half saw even more separation from the Lions. The Blue Devils held them to a brief 0-of-4 field goal drought, while a tip-in from James and a dunk from Knueppel set the Crazies wild. Maluach scored two additional points with a jumper less than six minutes into the half, also adding two rebounds to his total before subbing out.
“Khaman had a really good game today,” Scheyer said. “He protected the rim, and he’s not even close to the player that he’s going to become.”
Up by almost 30 points, other Blue Devils took to the court. Gillis put up two points but failed to find the basket on three 3-point attempts, while Harris came up short on one. James, Flagg and Maluach returned to play. Moments later, a fast break from James had Duke up 77-48 with just over 10 minutes left in the game.
“Everybody wants to play, and you can’t play everybody,” Scheyer said. “But I can tell you the guys that will end up playing are rewarded by what they do in practice.”
Reggie Hudson kept pace for the Lions, consistently making tough shots to finish with 24 points to lead his team. The sophomore guard also attempted more field goals than any other player in the game and recorded an impressive 11-of-22 shooting performance.
With 7:23 remaining in the game, a turnover by Bakir Cleveland led to a steal by Foster. Flagg dunked the ball to roaring applause, and the Blue Devils were up 81-50. From there, the Blue Devils put on a show. Duke went on a 9-0 run in just 59 seconds, part of a larger 15-2 scoring imbalance spanning six minutes and including six Lincoln turnovers. Evans came out of the under-4 media timeout with back-to-back triples, showcasing his range.
Cameron Sheffield, Neal Begovich, Spencer Hubbard and Stanley Borden saw the floor in the last three minutes, and the Blue Devils topped 100 points with 2:05 remaining. In two of the loudest cheers of the afternoon, Hubbard drew an and-one and Borden also got on the board with a layup.
Duke will have a week off before its Brotherhood Run exhibition game against Arizona State Oct. 27 at 7 p.m.
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Abby DiSalvo is a Trinity sophomore and assistant Blue Zone editor of The Chronicle’s 120th volume.
