Thoughts, observations on Duke basketball as Blue Devils’ season opener nears
Winning two exhibitions handily will always make a team feel good entering a new season.
Beating one of those opponents, which happens to play in the powerful Big 12 Conference, by 56 points created stratospheric levels of good vibes around Duke’s basketball program this week.
With the season-opening game against Maine set for Monday at 7 p.m at Cameron Indoor Stadium, the good times continue to roll for the Blue Devils with more depth in the frontcourt.
Wednesday, during a practice session open to donors to Durham’s Emily K Center educational non-profit, freshman center Patrick Ngongba was a full participant after sitting out since full practices began in September.
The 6-11, 250-pound Ngongba had not been on the court for Duke’s blue-white scrimmage during Countdown to Craziness on Oct. 4 nor its 107-56 exhibition win over Division II Lincoln (Pa.) on Oct. 19 and its 103-47 exhibition win over Arizona State last Sunday.
Ngongba has endured injuries to both feet prior to his arrival at Duke. One caused him to need surgery and miss his senior season at Paul VI High School in Fairfax, Virginia. He played on the U.S. team in the FIBA AmeriCup tournament last June when the Americans won a gold medal.
But, after returning to Durham to resume workouts with the Blue Devils, lingering discomfort led the medical staff to have him shut down on-court play.
Duke coach Jon Scheyer has continually said Ngongba didn’t have a new injury. Rather, it was to get him fully over all he’d been through.
“It’s not about anything that he’s done,” Scheyer said in September. “It’s just about getting him to his full 100% productivity on the court, where he can move completely pain free, and also where he can get back to being the level of player that we know he can be, because he’s gonna be a terrific player for us.”
Ngongba showed that on Wednesday, running the court during five-on-five, full-contact team activities with no signs of limitations. He even zipped an impressive pass from the perimeter down low to Sion James for a layup in a half-court set while playing against a group that included freshmen Cooper Flagg and Khaman Maluach.
Interior rotation
Ngongba’s return provides Duke with even more depth in the post behind the 7-2 Maluach and the 6-9 Flagg. They, along with 6-9 junior Maliq Brown, comprise Duke’s top interior players.
Scheyer did not start the 7-2 Maluach in the first exhibition against Lincoln, opting to have Brown in the starting five. But Maluach started against Arizona State with Brown coming off the bench.
Ngongba adds a third player to that rotation as Flagg, a preseason all-American, will certainly be a constant in the starting lineup
Prior to taking a break from on-court play, Ngongba took part in Duke’s summer practices and workouts while in town after his FIBA trip. He learned about the adjustment needed to play at the collegiate level.
“The first couple of days, it was very physical and all that,” he said in September. “But over the summer and all that I thought I was able to adjust.”
Experience in backcourt
Junior guard Tyrese Proctor and sophomore guard Caleb Foster, the lone returning players with starting experience at Duke from last season’s team, are naturally being counted on for ball-handling, scoring and defense in the backcourt.
They started against Arizona State, with Foster scoring 17 points and Proctor 10. Neither player committed a turnover against the Sun Devils.
Kon Knueppel, a 6-6 small forward, is the third ball handler while Flagg also has perimeter abilities to go along with his ability to score inside.
In games and in practice, Scheyer likes to rotate in James, the 6-6 transfer from Tulane, as well as 6-6 Purdue transfer Mason Gillis to play along with Flagg and Knueppel plus a big man like Maluach or Brown.
Two more 6-6 players, freshmen Darren Harris and Isaiah Evans, fill in the depth behind that group on the wings.
This story was originally published October 31, 2024 at 6:00 AM.