The 2022-23 Duke basketball squad, Jon Scheyer’s first as head coach, tied the 1970-71 Blue Devils for the third highest free throw percentage in program history at 76.6 percent. This year’s group isn’t quite on track to match that. But counting the effort in Tuesday night’s 88-65 home win over Virginia Tech, it seems within reach.
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No. 4-ranked Duke’s 15-for-15 clip against the Hokies is the program’s highest number of makes without a miss since the 1977-78 Blue Devils finished 24-for-24 in a home win over Davidson.
Credit belongs to Cooper Flagg (4-for-4), Tyrese Proctor (4-for-4), Kon Knueppel (3-for-3), Caleb Foster (2-for-2), and Mason Gillis (2-for-2).
And it was only the third time a Duke team has been perfect at the foul line with at least 15 attempts in a contest.
Oddly enough, the program record of 29-for-29 came at home against the Hokies in December 1966. Even stranger, including the 10-for-10 at Virginia Tech in December 2019, three of the five times that a Duke basketball team has finished 10-for-10 or better have been against the Hokies in December.
Scheyer’s third batch of Blue Devils (11-2, 3-0 ACC) is now shooting 75.1 percent at the line.
Six Duke basketball players have attempted at least 20 free throws this season. Five of them are shooting 75 percent or better.
Knueppel leads the way at 95.8 percent, as he’s missed only one of his 24 attempts. Of course, it’s still early, but the freshman guard/forward is on pace to break the Blue Devil season record of 95.3 percent that legendary Duke basketball sharpshooter JJ Redick posted in 2003-04.
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