2024-11-05 11:10:02
No. 7 Duke men’s basketball opened its highly-anticipated 2024-25 campaign with a home contest against Maine. After 20 minutes of play, the home team is out to a 44-33 lead:
Sometimes, the longest journeys take us back to where we started. And as Newport, Maine, native Cooper Flagg gets his very first regular-season minutes against the school less than an hour away from his home, the sentiment holds especially true. Flagg’s name has been buzzing around the world of college basketball for some time now, and Monday was the first real look for what the 6-foot-9 freshman can do. Expectations ran high, but for Flagg, the attention and pressure is nothing new. And as No. 2 touched the Cameron hardwood for the first time this regular season, he was surrounded by plenty of familiar faces. The freshman was active early, using his vision and instincts to set up plenty of opportunities early, by jumping in passing lanes, finding easy dump-offs in the paint and even skying high for a mean one-handed slam. Flagg was aggressive early, taking nine shots and collecting four assists as most of the Blue Devils offense ran through him.
The Blue Devils’ starting lineup remains the same from their last outing, with freshmen Khaman Maluach, Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel filling out the three through five, respectively. Returning starters Caleb Foster and Tyrese Proctor will handle the majority of the backcourt responsibilities, as it’s clear that Scheyer trusts their leadership and experience amongst a freshman-dominant starting lineup. Their size should play a big factor as Foster, Proctor and Knueppel all are 6-foot-5 or taller, with Maluach standing 7-foot-2. The Blue Devils were active cutting to the basket with their athletic bigs in the pick-and-roll, and used their athleticism to play above their opponent. Duke’s size has paid dividends early as the team has worked hard to carve out space in the paint and convert in close, generating most of its early offense in the paint. The Blue Devils have been quick to exploit height mismatches, finding good angles to finish through contact on multiple drives to the hoop.
Ball movement has been key early on, as the Blue Devils have generated bucket after bucket off of the vision of their teammates. Strong cuts and unselfish play from the backcourt allowed for plenty of clean looks. It was clear that the team played best when the ball moved frequently, allowing their shooters to come off of screens to get quick shots off the catch. Knueppel and Proctor both found success off of finds from their teammates. Running in transition also allowed the ball to move freely between teammates, as the Blue Devils took any opportunity to set up their offense early and get their weapons flowing to the ball early in possession. The Blue Devils assisted six out of their first 11 buckets and used the ball movement to generate a very efficient shooting performance out the gate. Flagg, Proctor and Foster dictated much of the momentum of the game, as their vision was key to finding shooters open on both the wings and in the corner.
Duke used its height and length to make the Black Bears uncomfortable early, especially in the paint. Maluach’s impact was felt immediately, as the Rumbek, South Sudan, native soared to two blocks in his first eight minutes of the game, as he terrorized the Maine squad as a help defender. The team did well to take advantage of loose balls and use their quick hands to rip ball handlers, generating five steals. Proctor and Foster fought hard to press the Black Bears’ backcourt and set the tone early for the young team, showing their leadership defensively. Their presence and instincts were missed in the later minutes of the first half, as the Black Bears found momentum with both on the bench. However, the Blue Devils still held Maine under 50% shooting from the field, with a large portion of their points coming from a solid mid-range performance.
The Milwaukee native made sure to leave his impact on the game early, showing his versatility and lethality behind the arc. Knueppel started by carving up the Maine defense inside on two tough finishes through contact, but soon showed his quick trigger on two straight long-range snipes, one through a shooting foul for a four-point play. It seemed as if the freshman couldn’t miss out the gate, as No. 7 started the game with 13 points in the first 10 minutes. If Knueppel had any reservations about his first regular-season game, he didn’t show it; he took every shot with incredible confidence, whether they were off balance or contested. In fact, the 6-foot-7 freshman looked best with a man in his face, converting most of his buckets through tough defense. Knueppel continued to take advantage of strong close outs after showing his range, using the defense’s overreaction to slip by and take advantage of contact through hop-step layups.
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