5 observations from No. 3 Duke men’s basketball’s first half against Miami
No. 3 Duke men’s basketball concludes its three-game homestand with a conference clash against Miami. After 20 minutes of play, the Blue Devils have stormed out to a 50-26 lead:
Category 1 Canes
Miami’s star point guard, graduate student Nijel Pack, has been out of commission since Dec. 10 and doesn’t look to be heading back to the court anytime soon. As of Saturday, Divine Ugochukwu is also on the bench thanks to a hip injury suffered during the Hurricanes’ 10-point loss to Wake Forest. These injuries only further handicap a team already struggling to find strength on the court, especially against ACC opponents. A five-game losing streak, punctuated by the loss of Ugochukwu, can’t do much for morale as Miami fights the No. 3 team in the nation.
Arc de Triumph
The Blue Devils shot rainbows for 20 minutes. After they landed five threes in the first seven minutes of the half on 5-for-8 shooting, Cameron Indoor Stadium felt thrilling already. When that became 8-for-12, the 3-point line seemed just short of enchanted. Duke’s downtown prowess didn’t come from one, or a few, lucky arms — Kon Knueppel, Sion James, Isaiah Evans and Mason Gillis all fired off successful shots from deep to make up the majority of the home team’s point total by the end of the period. James, Cooper Flagg and Tyrese Proctor excelled at finding downtown opportunities for their teammates, keeping the pace of the game quick as the Blue Devils took care of business with shocking efficiency. They had shot 11-for-17 from three when the period rang to a close.
No Brown, no problem
Maliq Brown spent the half, like he will spend the next one, in a black Brotherhood track suit rather than his usually well-worn uniform. After his injury last game, the junior forward will take a sideline seat until his knee sprain heals completely. But his absence has yet to hurt Duke — in fact, while Brown takes a break, Patrick Ngongba II gets to exercise his own defensive muscles after missing a chunk of the season due to his own injury early on. Given that the Blue Devils have held their visitors to almost exactly one-half of their own 50-point count, their defense has played fine even with its significant hole in the benched Brown.
Guarding the Kidd
Lynn Kidd holds the reigning crown for one of the more unique statistics categories in the ACC. The Gainesville, Fla., native’s points per game improved by 8.2 last season at Virginia Tech — the highest mark in the conference. This season, the graduate center has shot inconsistently; he started the season with a 24-point performance but most recently scored just seven. Still, his ceiling reaches high, and Kidd can be a difference-maker for Miami when he plays his best game. He began the game with a six-point, 3-for-3 field goal spree before taking a trip to the bench. After interim head coach Bill Courtney called his second timeout of the game, Kidd marched back onto Coach K Court to announce his presence with a decisive dunk on Duke’s net. Without Maliq Brown in blue and white, holding back Miami’s tallest threat might be the hardest thing Duke has to do during this game.
Player of the half: Kon Knueppel
Despite a hoard of Hurricanes trying to hold him down, Knueppel put up a field goal from right beneath the basket for his fifth of the half. When it looked like he was about to miss a second 3-point attempt, Maluach’s dunk proved that the freshman was actually making good on a second assist. The Milwaukee native opened scoring for the Blue Devils with an aggressive layup and didn’t slow down from there on out. Knueppel opened himself up for his teammates as often as he passed the ball over to them, making him a threat not just from a points perspective but also with how rapidly he moved the ball around the court. He finished with 18 points and four 3-pointers in the half.
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| Sports Managing Editor
Sophie Levenson is a Trinity junior and a sports managing editor of The Chronicle’s 120th volume.
