Duke used a hot start and stifling defense to take a very impressive ACC road win 89-62 against the SMU Mustangs.
Fifteen minutes before tip-off, Duke announced Head Coach Jon Scheyer was sick and did not make the trip to Dallas. This was only Schyer’s third missed game in the previous 545 games as a player and coach for the Blue Devils. That left Associate Head Coach Chris Carawll to lead the Devils in the Moody Coliseum to take on the 11-2 Mustangs.
The “Duke Effect” was in full force as SMU students were still off on winter break but the Moody Coliseum was standing-room only. The average ticket price for SMU’s January games is around $10. The tickets to get into the Duke game averaged $170 today..
Duke’s defense was active early. Forcing the Mustangs into tough shots and shot clock violations. Duke was able to avoid the flat start they are becoming known for, with hot 3-point shooting by Tyrese Proctor and Kon Knueppel taking a 15-7 lead into the first TV timeout.
Duke’s cold start waited until the under 16-minute timeout when substitute coach Chris Carawell went to the Duke bench. The offense went ice cold and went more than 3 minutes without a field goal and were completely dominated on the boards by the Mustangs. SMU took full advantage of the lineup change as Boopie Miller scored 5 quick points to bring the Ponies, and the crowd, right back into the game.
Once the 7’2” Khaman Malauch returned, Duke cleaned up on the glass and the game turned into the Cooper Flagg show. Flagg ended the first half with 15 points, 5 renounds, 1 assist, and 1 steal. Proctor followed with 8 first half points with two big threes early on. Duke was able to maintain their lead thanks to big minutes from Malauch as Maliq Brown was relatively quiet picking up two fouls in the first. Most impressively, Duke ended the first half with only one turnover allowing them to get set on the defensive end.
SMU was held under their usual scoring clip and went into halftime down 41-32, off their blistering pace of close to 90 points per game.
Duke started the second half much like the first: En Fuego. Duke went on a 13-5 run causing a SMU timeout and silence in the Moody Center. Like many opponents, SMU had no answer for the Cooper Flagg show. He finished the game with another double-double scoring 24 points, grabbing 11 rebounds, as well as three assists, two blocks, and a steal. Kon Knueppel found his form making (3) threes scoring 14 points after picking up two fouls in the first half. Proctor finished with 14. Sion James ended with 8 assists and only one turnover. Simply put, Duke shot SMU out of the game in the second half. Cruising to a _ point victory in what was touted as their toughest ACC matchup yet.
The Duke D held SMU to only 62 points, well below their season average.
Next up the Blue Devils take on fellow top of the table foes and former Blue Devil Jeff Capel and the Pittsburgh Panthers.
SMU travels to Chapel Hill to take on the Tar Heels in the Dean E. Smith Center coming off a last second thriller against Notre Dame.
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