When Duke comes to town, fans pack the arena and that is what happened at the Watsco Center on Tuesday night. With a full student section wearing orange and green, the rest of the arena could be seen in Duke blue. The first and likely only capacity crowd of the season was loud… for Duke. And after somewhat of a fight from Miami in the first half, Duke blew the doors open in the second, winning 97-60.
“[Duke] are very, very good,” Miami interim head coach Bill Courtney said in his opening statement of his postgame press conference.
Despite the opening-tip win from Miami, Duke got off to a hot start in the opening minutes of the game. Freshman guard Kon Knueppel would bury a 3-pointer from the left wing. Knueppel would continue to torch Hurricanes defenders all night, finishing with 20 points and shooting 4-for-5 from long range.
Duke took a sizable lead early, going on a 15-2 run with 13:59 to go in the 1st half.
Midway through the first half, five-star freshman Jalil Bethea got hot, knocking down three-pointers on back to back possessions cutting the deficit to just eight points, 22-14.
“I just feel like being confident in my play style just makes me play a lot better,” Bethea said following his 13-point performance.
Duke freshman guard Isaiah Evans would match Bethea. Also hitting back-to-back 3’s to extend the lead to 11. Evans played a big role in Duke’s win after the injury to junior Tyrese Proctor.
Miami struggled to score in the paint as the 6-foot-11 Patrick Ngongba II swatted Paul Djobet’s layup with 11:51 to go in the half. Ngongba and the 7-foot-22 Khaman Maluach, both freshman, would combine for four block shots.
Five-star recruit Cooper Flagg would make a big splash in the back end of the half. Knocking down 11 1st half points and scoring 16 total points on 6-of-9 shooting
With roughly 30 seconds to go in the 1st, freshman guard Divine Ugochukwu scored on the coast to coast layup. He would only end up with six points in the game but his presence on the boards was felt, leading the team with 10 rebounds.
“I thought [Divine Ugochukwu] was a terrific young kid learning the game of basketball, learning how to play point guard, learning how to lead, but I thought he was terrific on the glass,” Courtney said.
Miami (6-22, 2-15 ACC) trailed 47-32 going into halftime.
Only down by 15, Miami could have clawed back in the second half but Dukes’ dominance took over. Shutting Miami down offensively and picking them apart defensively.
“Well, in particular, Duke is so good defensively, in everything they do,” Courtney said.
Duke would also limit Miami in rebounds in the second half.
“Credit Miami, I mean they were crashing the boards like crazy in the first half, 11 of them [rebounds]. We held them to two in the second half,” Duke head coach Jon Scheyer said post-game.
With 10 minutes left in the game, Duke blew the game wide open, leading 72-40.
Despite the lack of production by Miami in the second half, center Lynn Kidd had a quiet but positive showing offensively. Scoring 11 of his 17 points in the back half of the game, although struggling on the boards.
Duke (25-3,16-1 ACC) would end up blowing out Miami with a final score of 97-60 and dominate from behind the arc. They would finish the game shooting 60% from downtown and 56% from the field. Miami would shoot 5-for-25 from deep.
As coach Scheyer said best, “It’s great coaching when you don’t have to coach playing hard.”
Miami will head to Chapel Hill to take on North Carolina. The game will tip-off on Saturday, March 1 at noon.