Jon Scheyer gets 1st win as Duke coach. Blue Devils beat Jacksonville 71-44 in opener
On a night when the rookie head coach started a new era, Duke’s most experienced player made sure that start was successful Monday.
Jeremy Roach, the lone returning starter from Duke’s Final Four team, scored 16 points, all in the first half, helping the Blue Devils to a 71-44 win over Jacksonville in Jon Scheyer’s first game as head coach.
“Jeremy Roach really set the tone for us,” Scheyer said. “That’s what we need him to do all year long.”
Scheyer, the point guard and team captain on Duke’s 2010 NCAA championship team, was named Mike Krzyzewski’s successor when the Hall of Fame coach announced his retirement more than a year ago.
After 18 months of preparing, Scheyer finally walked into Cameron Indoor Stadium and across Coach K Court to sit in the third chair of the Duke bench as the head coach.
He promised the Blue Devils would compete as hard as they did under Krzyzewski, and pledged defense would be the foundation.
The defense indeed was a strength as Jacksonville shot 34% from the field, including hitting only 13.6 percent (3 of 22) of its 3-pointers.
“Our guys, I think the biggest thing was just playing hard,” Scheyer said. “I thought we competed on every play.”
The Blue Devils (1-0) won despite playing without two of their top freshmen players, 7-1 center Dereck Lively II and 6-6 forward Dariq Whitehead. Both players are recovering from injuries and were on the bench in street clothes.
Freshman forward Mark Mitchell led Duke with 18 points on 7 of 14 shooting.
Duke built a 42-26 halftime lead by closing the first half with a 14-2 run. Roach and Kyle Filipowski hit 3-pointers in the final minute before halftime to boost the lead to a comfortable margin.
Here’s what we learned from Duke’s season-opening win:
Roach leads the way
It wasn’t just that Roach paced the Duke scoring attack, it was how he did it.
The 6-2 junior is the team’s lone captain this season, which makes sense because the roster is almost entirely new. Thus, he’s the guy everyone else looks upon to get things going.
Roach certainly did that, particularly in the first half. He drove the ball aggressively. He took open shots with confidence. He guarded fiercely.
Roach hit six of nine shots, including four of his seven 3-pointers. He grabbed six rebounds and dished out four assists.
In the first half alone, he made six of seven in the first half including four of five 3-pointers to score 16 points.
“I’ve been working on my jump shot, trying to be a more consistent shooter,” said Roach, who hit 41% of his shots overall and 32.2% as a sophomore last season.
Ball movement a strength
Duke did an exceptional job making the extra pass, both in half-court situations and in transition, to maximize scoring opportunities.
The Blue Devils collected assists on 70% of their made field goals, collecting 19 on 27 made shots.
The 6-6 Jacob Grandison, a graduate transfer from Illinois, led the team with five assists while Roach had four and Filipowski three.
Blakes makes his mark
After appearing in just 21 games and never scoring more than three points in any of them last season, Jaylen Blakes came off the bench to spell cold-shooting freshman Tyrese Proctor and contributed greatly to Duke’s win.
The 6-2 sophomore guard hit 2 of 3 shots, all 3-pointers, to score eight points with a steal and an assist.
His scoring impact came during the first half. With Duke up 15-10, Blakes entered the game, hit an open 3-pointer and recorded a steal on the defensive end. With 10:56 left until halftime, Blakes hit another 3-pointer giving Duke an 18-10 lead.
“For me, the 3s were an added bonus,” Scheyer said. “He’s a pit bull for us. He’s a winner. He’s a competitor. How he defended. His intensity and just unselfishness.”
Proctor started in the backcourt along with Roach. But the 6-5 freshman from Australia missed all eight of his shots, including four 3-pointers, to score two points on a pair of free throws while committing two turnovers.
Blakes picked up the slack in his 21 minutes of play.
Lively could play Friday
Scheyer said both Lively and Whitehead have healed such that they’ve been cleared medically to practice through contact.
That means both are close to playing in games. For Lively, that could be as soon as Friday’s game with South Carolina-Upstate.
“I think Dereck is a great shot to play Friday,” Scheyer said. “Dariq, not this week.”
Lively’s been slowed by a strained calf muscle, while Whitehead is recovering from a fractured foot he suffered on Aug. 29. Both are projected as first-round picks in next summer’s NBA Draft.
“It will still be a process even if they play some,” Scheyer said. “Don’t expect them to be a prime form.”
Interior production anyway
Even without Lively, Duke got solid games Monday night from Filipowski (10 points, 12 rebounds) and graduate transfer center Ryan Young, who had 12 points on 6-of-6 shooting while grabbing six rebounds and leading the team with three steals.
This story was originally published November 7, 2022 at 8:55 PM.