No. 3 Duke’s romp-filled ACC start has Scheyer pushing Blue Devils to keep ‘foot on the gas’

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DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Duke was rolling again against an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent. Yet Jon Scheyer wasn’t thrilled with how the third-ranked Blue Devils had started the second half as Miami put together a modest spurt.

As Sion James brought the ball upcourt, Scheyer was ready for a chat with his team.

“Right here, right here,” Scheyer told James, pointing to a spot near the bench for James to call timeout.

It wasn’t some game-saving moment, with Duke up 19 against a team yet to win an ACC game. But as Duke emerged with a quick flurry, the sequence illustrated what is becoming a frequent challenge amid a dominant league start. The Blue Devils are the ACC’s lone AP Top 25 team, winning blowouts with efficiency metrics far and away better than any other league team entering Saturday’s trip to Boston College.

And that has Scheyer pushing them to avoid even dabbling in complacency.

“Something we’ve talked about is: it doesn’t matter if you’ve won your first six games or lost your first six games — it doesn’t entitle you to anything this game,” the third-year coach said. “So you have to earn a big lead first of all. You have to earn separation.

“And then once you do, for us, we just talk about having a killer instinct, having our foot on the gas. And these guys have always responded.”

Lofty numbers

By any measure, the Blue Devils (15-2, 7-0 ACC) are firmly entrenched among the national elite. They’re the only team in the top five of KenPom’s adjusted offensive and defensive efficiency as of Friday. They’re in the top three in analytics rankings from KenPom, Bart Torvik and Evan Miyakawa — the latter with Duke at No. 1.

They sit alongside top-ranked Auburn as BetMGM Sportsbook’s favorite to win the national championship and handed the Tigers their only loss in a March-worthy throwdown featuring preseason AP All-Americans in Duke freshman star Cooper Flagg and Auburn’s Johni Broome. Duke’s two losses have come by a combined seven points to No. 8 Kentucky and…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/no-3-dukes-romp-filled-204035667.html

Author : Associated Press

Publish date : 2025-01-17 20:40:00

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