2024-11-05 14:00:03
It’s been 218 days since Duke men’s basketball last took the court. Finally, the Blue Devils are back.
In its season opener against Maine, Duke debuted a trio of freshmen in the starting lineup who combined for 46 points in a wire-to-wire 96-62 win. Kon Knueppel and Cooper Flagg led the way with 22 and 18, respectively, and nine Blue Devils finished with a basket.
“I thought there’s a lot to clean up and plenty to get better at, but I like the effort,” head coach Jon Scheyer said after the game. “…For Cooper and Kon [in] their first game to play the way they did, [I] thought was really good. And I thought Tyrese [Proctor], and even though he didn’t get a lot of shots, just the way he made others better. I could go through each guy.”
After a relatively cold first half from beyond the arc, the Blue Devils looked inside to heat up in the second. Freshman Khaman Maluach, after giving up an and-one on defense, finished strong through contact for a bucket of his own. Next time down the court, Flagg isolated against a much smaller Kellen Tynes for an easy bucket in the paint.
A few moments later, Flagg had the ball in his hands once again on a baseline drive, but this time he opted to dish it. Flagg found Knueppel with his hands ready in the corner, and the 6-foot-7 wing rose for a picture-perfect triple. Duke is made up of more than freshmen, though, as Tulane graduate transfer Sion James followed Knueppel with two buckets of his own to increase the lead to 60-39.
On the other side of things, the Blue Devils were imposing their will. Bigger than the Black Bears at every position, Duke hounded ball handlers and routinely forced Maine to take shots fading away. While the Black Bears shot over 50% from the field in the first half, they saw just 26.1% of their shots go in during the second.
The Blue Devils were also able to use their depth to keep bodies fresh defensively. When junior Maliq Brown rotated in for Maluach, Duke didn’t miss a beat, and James’ physicality likewise helped keep the gears turning.
The final transfer who saw meaningful minutes, Mason Gillis, gave the Blue Devils a new wrinkle on offense. A vestige of his time with Purdue, Gillis was constantly moving off the ball, exemplified by an easy layup of a backdoor cut to move the score to 62-43.
Unliked the aforementioned trio, Monday was not sophomore Caleb Foster’s first game in Cameron Indoor. Foster, who often manned the point for the home team, routinely knifed his way to the basket and came up with acrobatic finishes. Between him and Knueppel, Duke’s backcourt overpowered the Black Bears and seemed to get in the paint at will.
To make matters worse for Maine, starting center Keelan Steele fouled out with over eight minutes remaining. The 6-foot-10 big man had successfully maneuvered around Maluach for 11 points, but his absence left an even bigger hole in the Black Bears’ defensive interior.
Six points late in the game from Flagg — including a breakaway dunk that brought a roar from the crowd — grew the Blue Devils’ lead to 26, and guards Tyrese Proctor and Caleb Foster nailed back-to-back threes to bring it to 29. Flagg ended his highly-anticipated debut with seven rebounds and five assists to go along with his scoring.
All of this came while Maine was in the middle of a nearly 10-minute field-goal slump; by the time the Black Bears finally got the lid off the basket with 1:15 remaining, it was too little too late.
“I think what you see is just a more modern day roster that Jon has brought in with the staff, and it allows them to be extremely versatile,” Maine head coach Chris Markwood said. “… I would be shocked if they’re not a top five or top 10 defense in the country as the year goes on.”
The first half was a show of Duke’s freshman sensations.
The Blue Devils wasted no time getting their season started, as Knueppel weaved to the basket for a layup on their opening possession. On the other end, Duke repeatedly forced Maine into ill-advised shots — leading to numerous air balls and turnovers. That defensive energy helped push the Blue Devils’ offense down the court, and they made eight of their first 10 shots.
On one such play, Knueppel poked the ball away from a Black Bear and quickly turned it into two points. Another steal came moments later from Flagg, and Syracuse transfer Maliq Brown jumped a passing lane for a takeaway of his own. This time, Knueppel corralled the loose ball and immediately rose for a shot, knocking down a triple while sustaining a foul for a four-point play.
By the time Maine stopped the bleeding with a three from Christopher Mantis, the Milwaukee native already had 13 points.
In addition to Knueppel’s early contributions, Maluach rose above the crowd. The Rumbek, South Sudan, native chipped in two early buckets to go along with a pair of monstrous blocks.
Flagg’s biggest impact came in other places, as he finished the first 20 minutes with a team-high four assists, three rebounds and a steal. Still, the Newport, Maine, native notched his own highlight-reel play by soaring for an emphatic slam. He took off from the middle of the paint, and no Black Bear dared to meet him at the rim as he nearly tore it down.
“Everyone’s confident in each other,” Proctor said of the team’s arsenal of offensive weapons. “We just go and find our guys in the right spots, and everyone can hit open shots. Once we start swinging the ball moving the side to side, we get great stuff.”
Maine did its part to keep things close in the first half, in large part thanks to six offensive rebounds. So, even with all of the Blue Devils’ first-half fireworks, they went into the locker room leading by just 11, 44-33.
The Blue Devils will stay at home to take on Army Friday before heading to Atlanta for a matchup with No. 23 Kentucky Nov. 12.
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Dom Fenoglio is a Trinity junior and a sports managing editor of The Chronicle’s 120th volume.
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