What we learned from Duke basketball’s 109-64 exhibition win over UNC Pembroke
Duke basketball’s final dress rehearsal before opening the season featured little drama as the No. 2 Blue Devils pounded UNC Pembroke, 109-64, at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Wednesday night.
The Blue Devils quickly dispatched their Division II opponent, using fewer than 10 minutes to build a 30-5 lead. Preseason all-American Kyle Filipowski scored 17 points to lead five Blue Devils in double figures.
Duke opens the regular season against Dartmouth on Monday at 9 p.m. before facing a pair of ranked teams, No. 12 Arizona on Nov. 9 at Cameron and No. 4 Michigan State on Nov. 14 at Chicago’s United Center in the Champions Classic.
Here are three takeaways from Duke’s exhibition win that offer a glimpse at what the Blue Devils can show when the regular season begins next week:
Starting five, rotations
As expected, Duke used a three-guard starting lineup as freshman Jared McCain joined returning starting guards Jeremy Roach and Tyrese Proctor in the starting five. Two returning sophomore starters, Filipowski and 6-9 forward Mark Mitchell, completed coach Jon Scheyer’s initial group. All five starters scored in double figures.
The first two players off the bench were freshmen guard Caleb Foster and graduate student center Ryan Young, with junior guard Jaylen Blakes entering the game next.
At times, Duke went with a bigger lineup, utilizing the 6-10 Young and 7-foot Filipowski at the same time with three guards surrounding them. In other situations, the four returning starters were joined by Foster instead of McCain.
“You can see we’re gonna have a lot of different lineups,” Scheyer said. “I don’t have all the answers yet. I’m still learning just like you guys are. But I do have confidence in that core group that started the game, how hard they’re gonna play. I thought they shared it really well. We’re still getting a feel for how to play with each other.”
Long distance shooting
While going 27-9 and winning the ACC championship last season, the Blue Devils were not a great 3-point shooting team as they hit 33.5% of those shots to finish No. 100 nationally. That’s the second-lowest 3-point shooting percentage for Duke this century.
On Wednesday night, the Blue Devils hit 11 of 25 (44%) as they blitzed the Braves. Proctor was red-hot early, hitting four 3-pointers while Duke jumped to a 14-2 lead. The sophomore finished 5 of 8 on 3-pointers, which represented all of his shot attempts, while scoring 15 points.
“I said all year last year I wasn’t down on my 3 or anything like that,” said Proctor, who hit 32% of his 3-pointers as a freshman. “I worked on in the summer and I was just feeling it tonight.”
Mitchell and Filipowski hit their only 3-point attempts. Foster was 1 of 2.
Stay in front defense
Duke played what looked like a “no-middle” defense early with three players out front staying close to the Pembroke players and two Blue Devils down low guarding the lane.
Rather than simply focusing on keeping the Braves ballhandlers out of the paint, the Blue Devils said they had a different focus.
“Just controlling the ball,” Roach said. “You’ve got to just keep guys in front. Making sure the help side is where they need to be.”
The change is because Duke is different than the past two seasons. In 2021-22, the Blue Devils had the ACC defensive player of the year, 7-1 Mark Williams, at center. He became Charlotte’s first-round selection in the 2022 NBA Draft. Last season, Duke had 7-1 Dereck Lively blocking shots before he was a first-round NBA Draft pick by Dallas last summer.
“We’re going to be a team that’s gonna be in a lot of scattered situations, a lot of rotation situations,” Roach said, “ just because we don’t have that big man presence.”
Duke aims to limit paint touches and ballhandlers getting into the lane for easy shots or quick passes to players who get open when the defense collapses.
“We didn’t pressure the ball as much last year,” Scheyer said. “We can get after you a little bit more.”