Quite the bounceback: Three takeaways from Duke basketball’s domination of Wofford
Coming off a tough loss, and with games against top-10 opponents looming in three of the next four games, No. 6 Duke needed a get-right game.
Wofford provided the perfect fodder Saturday.
While the Terriers struggled and struggled and struggled some more to score, the Blue Devils led by 37 points at halftime and rolled to an 86-35 win at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Duke (3-1) regained its footing after letting a lead get away in the final four minutes to lose, 77-72, to No. 19 Kentucky on Tuesday night in Atlanta. The Blue Devils next play at No. 9 Arizona on Friday night before facing top-ranked Kansas in Las Vegas on Nov. 26.
After a game with Seattle on Nov. 29 at Cameron Indoor, Duke plays No. 5 Auburn at home on Dec. 4.
“We’ve talked a lot about, just the process of the season,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said, “how no matter if you win or lose, how you respond, how you come back the next game.”
Against Wofford, Duke held an opponent to the fewest points in 56 years. Not since the Blue Devils beat N.C. State, 12-10, in a pre-shot clock, slow-down ACC Tournament game on March 8, 1968, has a Duke foe scored fewer points than Wofford produced on Saturday.
It’s the fewest points Duke has allowed an opponent to score since college basketball implemented a shot clock.
The Terriers started 3 of 23 from the field as they made only 1 of their first 16 3-pointers. Duke built a 36-7 lead a little less than 15 minutes into the game and took a 51-14 halftime lead.
Duke unleashed three long scoring runs while the Terriers struggled to score, reeling off nine, 10 and 17 consecutive points in the first half.
Wofford finished the game shooting 24.6%, hitting only 5 of 33 3-pointers (15.6%). The Terriers also committed 15 turnovers.
Tyrese Proctor led Duke in scoring with 15 points while Isaiah Evans added 14 points, Caleb Foster 13 and Khaman Maluach 11 points.
While preseason All-American Cooper Flagg scored only eight points on 3-of-8 shooting, the 6-9 freshman still contributed nine rebounds with six assists and three steals.
Here are three takeaways from the game:
Shooting returns — at home
One of the reasons Duke lost to Kentucky was its poor 3-point shooting (4 of 23), which really hurt as the Blue Devils scored just 26 second-half points and saw their lead disappear.
Duke needed only eight minutes of play against Wofford to match the four 3-pointers it made against Kentucky. The Blue Devils hit 8 of 18 in the first half and finished 16 of 38 (42.1%) for the game.
That’s more in line with Duke’s season average, which was 35.2% on 3-pointers entering Saturday’s play. Duke had made 28 of 67 (41.7%) of its 3-pointers while beating Maine, 96-62, and Army West Point, 100-58, in its first two games prior to facing Kentucky.
“We had great shots that day,” Foster said of the Kentucky game. “They just didn’t fall. But we ultimately had a chance to win that game. That had nothing to do with why we lost. The shots are going to come and go. “
Seven different Duke players made 3-pointers against Wofford, with Proctor leading the way by making 4 of 7 attempts while Evans made 4 of 8; Foster made 3 of 4, and Kon Knueppel hit two.
Scheyer and Foster both praised Duke’s ball movement, as the Blue Devils collected 24 assists on their 30 made field goals.
“We were getting more to the second side,” Foster said, “getting the ball moving more. It was a good step, a good step for next week.”
James, Maluach health OK
In addition to all those missed 3-pointers, another factor that played into Duke’s loss to Kentucky was a pair of injuries to Sion James and Khaman Maluach, who were mostly unavailable in the game’s final 12 minutes. James injured his right shoulder while taking a hard hit from a screening Kentucky player, while Maluach suffered from muscle cramps.
But the 7-2 Maluach manned his usual place in Duke’s starting lineup against Wofford while the 6-6 James made his first appearance in the game at the first media timeout, with 15:39 left in the first half.
James played 19 minutes Saturday, scoring five points, while Maluach contributed his 11 points with one rebound in 13 minutes of play.
Hello, Patrick Ngongba II
A 6-11 freshman center, Patrick Ngongba II finally made his Duke debut when he entered the game with 9:39 to play in the first half. He scored his first points a few seconds later as he took a pass from Flagg to hit a layup with 8:55 left.
Ngongba finished the game playing 11 minutes, scoring two points with six rebounds.
Ngongba, who came to Duke from St. Paul IV High School in Fairfax, Virginia, had been sidelined since September while recovering from foot injuries that had dogged him since high school. Ngongba didn’t play as a high school senior but was well enough to compete for USA Basketball in the FIBA Men’s U18 AmeriCup last June.
Upon his return to Duke, though, the medical staff decided to limit him in a quest, as Scheyer said, to finally feel fully healthy. That meant he missed practices and Duke’s two preseason exhibition wins in October, wearing a walking boot for weeks. He returned to practice the week before Duke’s season-opening win over Army on Nov. 4 but did not play in Duke’s first three games.
“Our medical team has done an incredible job with him, incredible,” Scheyer said. “It would have been very easy to try to rush him and get him back out there as soon as possible. But our thing was, he’s been through a lot in high school. How can we get him out there pain free?”
Scheyer believes Ngongba has the size and ability to help the Blue Devils this season. But he cautioned that, because Ngongba missed so much time in high school, the plan is to limit his minutes this season in an effort to slowly build him back up.
“We’re cautious with his loads in practice,” Scheyer said.
This story was originally published November 16, 2024 at 2:03 PM.