Blue Devils take flight in exhibition

Blue Devils take flight in exhibition

Duke runs through Lincoln (Pa.) in first chance to play
somebody other than themselves

(Photo by USA Today Sports)

DURHAM – Maybe stale is the wrong word for it. Duke’s players certainly aren’t going to say they dislike practicing against each other.

But there was some undeniable relief for the Blue Devils when they finally got to play an opponent other than teammates, which was Saturday’s 107-56 exhibition win over Lincoln (Pa.) at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

“Yeah, relieving is a good word, I think,” said freshman Kon Knueppel, who scored 15 of his 17 points in the first half. “It’s definitely nice to go up against somebody else and get used to something else. Instead of guarding our own action, it makes it a whole lot tougher in practice.

“It was good to get out there against somebody else.”

Sure helps to win by 51, too.

Relief turned into some high-flying dunks and some high-octane shooting from the Blue Devils. Knueppel had a one-handed dunk over Ethan Garita early in the second half that you’ll see on highlight reels over the next week; fellow freshman Cooper Flagg had a couple of high-flying moments in the second half.

Flagg led Duke with 22 points, hitting a couple of 3s, dishing out six assists — three of those going to Knueppel on 3s in the first half. Knueppel was 5-for-9 on 3s, all of which were in the first half.

Junior guard Tyrese Proctor scored 19 points on an efficient 5-for-7 shooting day. He echoed Knueppel’s sentiment that it was nice for a team that played pickup against itself throughout the summer and has been practicing and scrimmaging together for about a month was able to play different-colored jerseys.

“We’ve been going at it all summer, been playing pickup for a long time,” Proctor said. “So, it was great to just get out there and play with the guys, just get a feel of how we’re going to play this year.”

Granted, it was against a Division II team, how the Blue Devils are going…

Source link : https://duke.rivals.com/news/blue-devils-take-flight-in-exhibition?yptr=yahoo

Author : Devils Illustrated

Publish date : 2024-10-19 21:47:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.