No. 2 Duke men's basketball routs Miami 97-60, Proctor leaves game with injury
The Blue Devils were shooting fireballs all night in the 305.
No. 2 Duke dismantled Miami 97-60 Tuesday night at the Watsco Center to continue its dominant ACC run. The freshman trio of Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel and Isaiah Evans combined for 52 points and 11 boards in the contest as all of their stocks continue to rise. As a whole, the squad knocked down 15 threes and dished out 20 assists in a complete offensive showing.
“Great performance, proud of these guys. And for freshmen like these two guys next to me, they just have such a mature and serious approach. It's really fun to coach these guys because of that, so proud of the win,” head coach Jon Scheyer said with Knueppel and Evans flanking him.
With 37 seconds left in the first half, one play put a major damper on an otherwise excellent night for Duke. As Tyrese Proctor backpedaled while guarding Divine Ugochukwu on a fast break, the junior guard’s knee appeared to buckle under him. The Sydney native quickly hobbled into the tunnel and did not return to the court for the remainder of the game.
Duke’s synergy on offense did not seem to miss a beat coming off Saturday’s drubbing of Illinois. To begin the game, the Blue Devils shot 7-of-10 — all seven baskets were assisted. The success came from all levels of the floor. When Duke headed to the locker room for the break, it had shot 61.5% or better in every aspect of the game; exactly half the team’s made shots were threes and it went 16-of-26 from the field.
“I love the killer instinct that our team has had. I love the approach to each game. They haven't big-timed anything,” Scheyer said. “But we know what's ahead. We know the battles we're going to be in, and we know it can happen any night.”
Even though the Blue Devils (25-3, 16-1 in the ACC) did not shoot quite as well in the second half, the defense did more than enough to keep building the lead. Duke went on a 20-4 run over a 6:27 span early in the second half as it completely manhandled the Miami offense even with Proctor out and Flagg sitting on the bench.
With its top two scorers in Matthew Cleveland and Nijel Pack out, Miami (6-22, 2-15) seemed to lack the firepower needed to keep up with the visitors. By the first media timeout, the Hurricanes had as many turnovers as points, although Duke matched them with two giveaways.
Freshman guard Jalil Bethea singlehandedly kept the home team in the game for the majority of the first period, as the Philadelphia native showed off an impressive 3-point stroke. The highest-ranked recruit in program history definitely looked the part against a stout Duke defense, going for 11 points in the first half on 4-of-9 shooting.
The Blue Devils had a clear length advantage on the Hurricanes, and the home team could never quite deal with the size of Duke’s roster. With 5:44 remaining in the first half, Bethea tried to sneak a pass by Proctor, but Knueppel picked up a deflection from the Aussie and fed it right back to him, resulting in a pair of free throws and a 33-19 lead. By the final buzzer, Duke had amassed four blocks and 10 steals to go along with countless other deflections.
After a string of solid performances from the freshmen duo, Patrick Ngongba II and Isaiah Evans were the first subs off the bench for head coach Jon Scheyer. Sophomore guard Caleb Foster joined them shortly after, as Scheyer seemed to be intentionally increasing the role for the youngsters to prepare for postseason play.
The entire trio made their mark on the first half in different ways. Evans in particular seems to grow more comfortable in his role by the minute. The Fayetteville, N.C., product canned an impressive five triples including an and-one to continue a hot shooting stretch. To aid his outburst, Ngongba added rim protection and Foster helped initiate the offense while also finding the net on a driving layup that swirled around the iron a few times before falling.
“Just staying consistent in my preparation each week, working with Coach [Emanuel] Dildy, getting the same reps over and over again,” Evans said regarding what prompted his hot stretch.
With 14:36 remaining, Proctor fired a 3-pointer to both extend Duke’s lead and hit a personal milestone. The bucket put the junior guard over 1,000 points for his career, becoming the 70th player in Duke history to accomplish the feat.
The start of the second half was a little sloppy for both teams; neither Duke nor Miami could seem to put up a clean possession on offense. The result was a flurry of turnovers and fouls that the Blue Devils capitalized on. Flagg finished an and-one over Ugochukwu with 17:21 remaining, and Duke forced the freshman into another mistake on the other end that Khaman Maluach turned into an easy layup and a Hurricane timeout.
The Proctor injury combined with the nature of the game allowed Scheyer to get all rotation players extended minutes. Darren Harris entered the game with over 10 minutes left to collect by far his most playing time of conference play, and Foster tallied 17 minutes played after playing sparingly throughout the ACC campaign.
Up next, the Blue Devils will return home Saturday to take on Florida State at 7 p.m.
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