Defensive dominance. Three takeaways from No. 5 Duke basketball’s win over George Mason

No. 5 Duke overcame early struggles from the field and emerged victorious, 68-47, over George Mason in a battle between two top-5 shooting defenses on Tuesday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

After the Blue Devils shot just 22% through the first eight and a half minutes — granted, George Mason wasn’t much better at 23% — Duke went on a 9-3 run. But the Patriots wouldn’t go away, executing tough shots with a K.D. Johnson 3-pointer banked off the glass and a layup from Woody Newton — who went straight into Cooper Flagg’s chest and finished with a soft right-handed touch.

And even as Duke (9-2) continued to struggle to the field, the Blue Devils found solace in their ability to draw fouls.

Duke finished the half by making just one of its last nine attempts from the field — a Kon Knueppel layup — but managed three trips to the line during that stretch. Still, Duke took a mere 25-16 halftime lead over the Patriots (7-3).

In the second half, Flagg heated up and led a 9-0 Blue Devil run with two free throws, a jumper, a layup and an assist to Tyrese Proctor on a triple. From there, Duke rolled to a comfortable lead and easily put away the Patriots to finish its nonconference slate.

Flagg tied or led the Blue Devils in points (24), rebounds (nine) and assists (four). Duke coach Jon Scheyer praised his star’s aggressiveness following the win.

“For any young guys, you get caught up in percentages [and] numbers sometimes,” Scheyer said of Flagg. “For him, he was just a warrior out there… that comes with just his competitive spirit and being in attack mode. We need him to be that way, and we need to help him be that way all the time.”

Isaiah Evans added nine points on a trio of triples (3-of-6 from distance) and Khaman Maluach recorded eight rebounds and a consistent defensive presence around the rim.

Here are three takeaways from the game:

Early shooting woes

Duke shot just 27.3% from the floor in the first half — the lowest first-half field goal percentage in the Jon Scheyer era. Flagg had an uncharacteristically rough start from the floor, going 2-11 in the first half and struggling with George Mason’s physicality around the rim.

“We felt like we were getting OK looks [in the first half],” Duke graduate transfer Sion James said. “Cooper was being super aggressive [and] getting good looks. We were kicking out for a lot of good shots. They just weren’t going down… we stayed the course and some more of them went down in the second half.”

Whatever was plaguing Flagg then seemingly vanished at halftime. The freshman phenom came out hot in the second half, scoring two quick buckets inside and finding Proctor for a triple in the corner. That pushed Duke out to an 18-point lead — its largest of the game at that point.

Meanwhile, the Patriots remained stagnant. George Mason became the third team to shoot less than 30% against Duke through 11 games, joining the likes of Seattle (21.3% on Nov. 29) and Wofford (42.6% on Nov. 16). This is also the fifth team the Blue Devils have limited to 50 or fewer points.

Duke, on the other hand, shot a much improved 52.2 percent in the second half.

“We didn’t have the best of starts but it just shows… what can happen and what can change,” Proctor said.

Brown is back

If the Cameron Crazies needed a reminder of Maliq Brown’s presence (doubtful), they got it with 14:36 remaining in the second half. Off an assist from Flagg, Brown went up with two hands and finished over a George Mason defender — hanging off the rim for good measure. The 6-foot-9 transfer from Syracuse didn’t yell or flex. Instead, in his first game back after suffering a toe injury on the road at Louisville, he let his basket do the talking.

“He changes the game,” James said. “I guarantee you no one on the other end wants to play against him… he’s a winning player.”

The Blue Devils certainly needed Brown — who averages 5.9 rebounds and a team-high 1.6 steals — on Tuesday. The “defensive menace” (per Scheyer) didn’t have the most eye-popping night on the stat sheet. That dunk marked his only basket of the game, and he added five rebounds, an assist and one steal.

But the forward was a constant presence on defense, deflecting passes and applying ball pressure that led to errant passes and steals for his teammates. And, with Brown back in rotation, that meant a return to normalcy for Scheyer’s substitution pattern.

“He makes my job easier, he makes everyone else’s job so much easier,” James said. “We all love playing with him because he takes the pressure off and we’re glad he’s feeling better.”

James, Evans step up in the clutch

Duke could breathe a sigh of relief, relax its shoulders and maybe even unclench its proverbial jaw with eight minutes remaining. Five familiar and friendly letters graced the scoreboard in Cameron Indoor Stadium: BONUS.

On a spinning drive to the basket, James was fouled — marking George Mason’s seventh team foul of the half.

James stepped up to the line and calmly sank two free throws. Then Evans caught fire from deep — confidently knocking down back-to-back triples to keep the Blue Devils comfortably ahead. James followed that up by driving to the cup, scoring and earning another trip to the line.

While George Mason continued to trade buckets — with two layups for center Jalen Haynes, a tough and-one drive for Newton and a Johnson jumper — the Patriots never cut their deficit to less than 15 points in the game’s final eight minutes.

And then, to give Duke its largest lead of the night (22), Evans knocked down a third 3-pointer. That’s the freshman’s fourth game this season with three or more made treys.

After the game, Evans explained his consistency with two words: “just work.”

“Continuing to work every week, not getting complacent with how I’m performing,” he said. “Knowing that I need to be efficient if I want to play how I want to play.”

The Blue Devils return to ACC play against Georgia Tech on Saturday at noon at McCamish Pavilion in Atlanta.

This story was originally published December 17, 2024 at 9:13 PM.