Nine different Duke basketball players scored in the first 20 minutes of Saturday’s blowout win over Wofford, a testament to the depth of head coach Jon Scheyer’s recruiting.
After losing 10 players from last year’s rotation to either the NBA, transfer portal, or expired eligibility, Scheyer replenished his roster with six freshmen and four transfer additions. However, with four top-25 opponents in the first eight games, that also means the third-year coach is meeting his 2024-25 team in real-time.
“It’s not like you’re afforded opportunities to experiment,” Scheyer said. “And really, every game is a little bit of an experiment because it’s my first time with all of these guys except Caleb (Foster) and Tyrese (Proctor).”
The slight unsteadiness, especially in his first-year talent, reared its head in the second half of Tuesday’s loss to the Kentucky Wildcats. Only different eight Blue Devils took the court across the entire game, including Tulane transfer Sion James, who left in the second half with a shoulder injury. Superstar forward [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag], the only Duke player with a made shot over the final 10 mintues, scored 12 of the team’s last 14 points.
Two players who didn’t sub in against Kentucky, freshmen Isaiah Evans and Patrick Ngongba, made their case for prime minutes on Saturday. Evans scored 14 points in 12 minutes, making four of his seven 3-point tries, and Ngongba came away with five offensive rebounds and two assists in his collegiate debut.
“It’s hard to play eleven guys,” Scheyer said. “So finding out what that balance is, how deep can you go, who can be ready…Just because we start a certain way or play a certain way now doesn’t mean it’s going to end up that way. This is a long process.”
The next step of that process comes on Friday with a road game against Arizona.