Duke opened its season with the kind of start that makes a building buzz, then spent much of the night trying to shake off the mess that followed.
The Blue Devils jumped Army 12-0 in the first four minutes Monday night, hitting all six of their first shots while the Black Knights opened 0-for-5. But once Army settled into its zone, Duke’s offense got clunky in a hurry. The Blue Devils were 7-for-7 to start, then managed just 5-of-20 the rest of the first half and took a 33-18 lead into the break.
Even with the rough patches, Duke still rolled to a 34-point win. That said, this is a team with national title aspirations, and Monday night was a reminder that the margin for error shrinks fast when the shots stop falling and the ball stops moving.
The bright side is that Duke has already shown a higher gear. The three-game exhibition slate made that clear, and this group should look cleaner going forward.
Dame Sarr led the way with 16 points, doing all of his damage efficiently by going 5-of-5 from the floor and 6-of-6 at the line. Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje also made a strong first impression in his debut, finishing with 15 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots.
The biggest issue for Duke came when Army shifted into zone defense. That change threw the Blue Devils off rhythm, sparked some careless mistakes and turned the offense into a slog.
Duke found a few good possessions and some easy baskets, but too often it looked like a team that wasn’t willing to do the extra work required to crack the zone. Jon Scheyer will almost certainly make that a point of emphasis, because Duke is going to see plenty more of that look this season.
The defense, though, was a different story. Duke controlled the game on that end for long stretches, using its size and length to shut down the paint.
Army shot 35% from the field and 27% from three, and the Black Knights coughed it up 24 times. Those turnovers turned into fuel for Duke’s offense, which piled up 29 fast-break points.
The outside shooting was another rough patch, but not one worth overreacting to. Duke didn’t hit a three until Cayden Boozer connected at the 16:37 mark of the second half, after the Blue Devils had missed 10 straight from deep. They finished 4-of-22 from three, a chilly 18%.
That kind of night happens. It’s not a reason to sound alarms, especially when the looks were there. The shots will come around.
John Blackwell’s Duke debut fit the same theme. The former Wisconsin transfer was quiet for most of the night, going scoreless for the first 32 minutes before finally burying a corner three with eight minutes left.
He ended up with 3 points, 4 turnovers, and a 1-of-6 shooting line from the field, including 1-of-5 from beyond the arc. Better nights are coming for him, too.
If there was one part of the night that felt unmistakably fun, it was Duke’s freshman class getting loose in transition. Boumtje Boumtje finished off an alley-oop from Cayden Boozer early, then added a windmill dunk in the second half. Deron Rippey topped that with a one-handed put-back dunk off a missed jumper by Patrick Ngongba.
The talent is obvious. Monday just offered a few reminders that Duke still has some polishing to do.
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