How Duke basketball keeps its ‘killer instinct’ in blowout wins ahead of March Madness

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DURHAM — Whether Duke basketball is up two points, 20 points or practicing at the K Center, the Blue Devils are sticking to their standard.

With its 33-point win against Wake Forest on Monday in the season finale at Cameron Indoor Stadium, No. 2 Duke (27-3, 18-1 ACC) logged a league-record 10th ACC win by 25 or more points, including nine by 30 or more.

Since losing at Clemson on Feb. 8, the Blue Devils have been in demolition mode, winning their last seven games by an average margin of 31.8 points. Duke has won four in a row by 30-plus points, outscoring its opponents 400-252 in that stretch.

“Just proud of the killer instinct. It’s not normal, what these guys are doing,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said after finishing with an undefeated record on Coach K Court for the second time in three seasons.

“We don’t take it lightly, we don’t take it for granted. We know the job’s not done and it doesn’t entitle you to anymore wins the rest of the season. For us, it’s full steam ahead.”

As they continue to steamroll squads with March Madness on deck, the Blue Devils haven’t been susceptible to scoreboard-watching setbacks. They dive into the details of the demolition, honing in on maintaining their momentum as opponents crumble around them.

“It’s the standard,” said graduate transfer Sion James, who had 11 points in his final game at Cameron.

“We’ve beaten teams pretty good, but we don’t walk into a game saying, ‘Hey, let’s win by this number.’ We just say, ‘Let’s challenge ourselves possession by possession to really improve and do what we’re supposed to do, and trust that the end outcome will be what it is.’ ”

Like James, fellow graduate transfer Mason Gillis has felt led to help Duke dominate the details.

“It’s on the coaches and us older guys to just uphold our standard, keep people accountable. It’s not just sometimes on a Monday or sometimes on a Thursday. It’s seven days a week, every single day,” said Gillis, who also had…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/article/duke-basketball-keeps-killer-instinct-090316589.html

Author : The Fayetteville Observer

Publish date : 2025-03-05 09:03:00

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