Any Cameron Crazies who watched Tuesday’s win over the George Mason Patriots would be forgiven for feeling a sense of déjà vu.
The Blue Devils once again struggled to put points on the board in the opening half, returning to the locker room with just 25 after the first 20 minutes, but the defense once again saved the day for a stress-free 21-point win. Sprinkle in some struggles from behind the 3-point line, a productive second half from freshman superstar Cooper Flagg, and double-digit turnovers forced on the defensive end, and it’s easy to see a script starting to emerge for the 2024-25 season.
While several of the flaws that plagued the home team on Tuesday looked familiar, it’s also become clear that the Blue Devils can sustainably win basketball games with this defensive identity. Small flaws now become big flaws in March, however, so Duke basketball fans would be justified to ask for some signs of encouragement over the next month or two.
Here are our five instant takeaways from the Blue Devils’ fifth straight victory.
Once again, this is the best defense in the country
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Duke entered Tuesday’s game with KenPom’s second-best defensive efficiency rating, and George Mason’s offensive production will only help that reputation. The Patriots went 20/68 (29.4%) from the floor despite a five-for-five run midway through the second half, and the visitors went just 2/17 (11.8%) from 3-point range.
Through 11 games, the Blue Devils have held six opponents under 60 points and kept nine opponents underneath 40% from the field. There are no easy buckets against this Duke team, and we’ve reached a representative sample size to trust this will continue.
What’s going on with the first-half scoring?
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The Blue Devils fell behind by at least 10 points in the opening minutes against the Kansas Jayhawks, Auburn Tigers, and Louisville Cardinals in their last six games, and Tuesday’s battle against George Mason was the second straight time they’ve scored fewer than 30 points before halftime. After Flagg and Tyrese Proctor made 3-point looks in the first three minutes, Duke missed 13 of its next 14 shots to let the Patriots hang around. Part of that can be attributed to George Mason’s defense, but the Blue Devils let plenty of open looks clang off the iron. It was easy to attribute the runs against major conference opponents to some early shooting luck, but there’s clearly something off about this offense out of the gates.
Okay, now it’s time to panic about the 3-point shooting (except for Isaiah Evans)
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Isaiah Evans is still shooting 50% from distance to start his freshman season, a staggering rate given his 40 attempts, and he went three-for-six on Tuesday night to keep that number steady.
The rest of the roster went just 6/21 (28.6%), including a combined 1/10 from Kon Knueppel, Caleb Foster, and Mason Gillis. Every member of that trio entered the season with realistic hopes of going 40% from distance, but they’ve been ice cold for close to a month now despite plenty of uncontested looks. It’s hard to say the answer is to keep shooting when the Blue Devils have finished below 34% as a team in four of their last five games, but it’s hard to point to a specific culprit beyond variance. Yet, again, we’re reaching a sample size too large to call bad luck. It’s the most baffling part of this season thus far.
Cooper Flagg should drive toward the rim more often
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This might just be a personal preference, but Duke’s star player feels like he’s settling for a lot of floaters and mid-range jumpers rather than pushing his way toward the glass. In his 2/11 opening half on Tuesday, he abruptly stopped or spun to create some separation when he’d already built a head of steam. The 17-year-old is not the most muscular player on the planet, so he shouldn’t seek out contact constantly, but he’s a phenomenal finisher and he’s made 37.1% of his shots over the last five games. Perhaps some more authority could be useful.
Flagg, Maliq Brown, and Khaman Maluach are the best offensive rebounding trio around
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How did the Blue Devils manage to build a nine-point lead despite shooting 27.3% from the floor in Tuesday’s first half? Well, the aforementioned trio of forwards combined for eight offensive rebounds before the break, including an amusing sequence when Flagg tipped three in a row straight to himself before an eventual foul call.
Duke is the tallest team in the country, which certainly helps dominate the glass, but Jon Scheyer can’t teach the ball instincts that Flagg, Brown, and Malauch have. They’re all incredible at leveraging their body and batting the ball up in the air, giving someone else a chance even if they can’t snag it themselves. That’s a skill that turns losses into wins, especially in tournament games.
