In the midst of transitioning from the spectacle of Countdown to Craziness into the intense season, the Blue Devils continue to orchestrate their symphony. The band is now in tune, ready to perform.
Duke’s 82-45 win Wednesday against Fayetteville State may have just been an exhibition, but it illuminated several keys for the Blue Devils’ success as the season gets underway. In front of a modest crowd for Cameron Indoor Stadium standards, the young Duke team started hitting the right notes as it rolled through its entire bench and pressed, sped, and bruised its way to its final preseason crescendo.
“We're evolving so much as a team, and each day we play, whether we practice or play a game,” head coach Jon Scheyer said. “It's about developing our habits.”
The showcasing of the complete roster will be delayed still with freshmen Dereck Lively II and Dariq Whitehead still recovering from injuries. The two played in neither the Oct. 21 Countdown to Craziness scrimmage nor the team's closed scrimmage against Houston Saturday. Scheyer said that Lively is “day-to-day” while Whitehead is “still a couple of weeks away.”
With the start in their place Wednesday: Ryan Young and his Big Ten experience alongside Kyle Filipowski looking to make an impact as a freshman.
Before the seats in the upper bowl of the arena were filled, a missed jumper from Fayetteville State’s Cress Worthy led directly to a quick trip ending with a Jeremy Roach dish to Filipowski for a 3-pointer. Moments later, a ball off the rim worked its way to freshman Mark Mitchell before he earned a trip to the charity stripe less than ten seconds into the possession.
All of 31 seconds after that, Tyrese Proctor continued to push the pace when he found Young down low for the bucket—a Broncos timeout showed they needed to slow things down. The Blue Devils would not permit it.
“It’s real fun just knowing that whoever gets the rebound can lead the fast break,” Roach said. “So it gets us playing even faster, and that just proves how versatile we are.”
Duke continued to storm ahead from its 13-6 lead to make it 40-12 in under 11 minutes and went on a 21-2 run along the way. Part of the boost was the Blue Devils cycling through the backcourt combo of Roach, Proctor and sophomore Jaylen Blakes, who at times equipped a full- or half-court press to work the shot clock, force contested looks and run the break more.
“The best offense to good defense, I think we embodied that a little bit tonight,” Young said. “It wasn't just about going for steals, but we thought if we could put some pressure on their full court, we'd be able to have them getting into their offense with a low shot clock … that was a little bit of a goal there.”
Defensive rebounding—while crashing the boards on the offensive end was not as successful—often led to outlet passes beyond the time line with multiple Blue Devils leading the charge. None were more effective than Mitchell, who fought to the rim to lead the team with five made free throws—a fraction of the team’s perfect 14-for-14 performance from the line.
Physical for a game sans the long-term implications of a regular season showdown, the Blue Devils took a couple of hits along the way. Blakes, Roach and Mitchell each drew three fouls while Roach—who has fouled out just once in his career—found himself in foul trouble late.
From the 16 fouls drawn by Duke to the hit to the face of graduate wing Jacob Grandison as the second half ticked down, both teams refused to continue to fight despite Duke’s one-time 43-point lead. What was eventually ruled a common foul on the Broncos’ D’Marco Baucum with 5:38 left to play had Grandison bleeding just below his right eye—a sight showing off the 24-year-old’s toughness but also perhaps a lack of acknowledgment that Halloween was already celebrated Monday.
He composedly sank both free throws to put him atop the Blue Devils’ scoring column with 17 points before taking to the bench and smiling it off with his teammates.
“I know he’s good. He's always telling me ‘I’m from Oakland,’ so I know he’s a tough dude,” Roach said.
It was a kind of dual-sided grit Scheyer admired, especially given the personal connections to the school, last season’s winners of the Division II Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association: former Duke player and assistant coach Jeff Capel’s late father was a player and head coach for the Broncos.
Despite the absence of two stars and an underwhelming performance on the glass, Wednesday night showed in part what this Duke team is made of. From Roach’s eight assists to the somewhat unlikely group of 10-point scorers (Grandison, Mitchell, Young, Blakes) or 20 fast-break points, these Blue Devils continue to discover that they play the same game, the same chorus.
Young added that—from the veteran Roach to three-star center Christian Reeves—the team’s depth, comprehensively displayed in the win, will also help with unique matchups down the road: “[Our depth] will give a lot of flexibility to Coach Scheyer. We'll be able to throw a lot of different looks at teams. … It's exciting.”
In spite of the nearly six-year age gap between the youngest and oldest members of the team, the pace of play, physicality and defense that united them in consonance are sure to be emphasized time and time again.
Duke will be back in Cameron Indoor Monday for the season opener, with Lively’s status worth watching for.
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Micah Hurewitz is a Trinity senior and was previously a sports managing editor of The Chronicle's 118th volume.