It would have been perfectly understandable for Jon Scheyer’s team to have a bit of a drop-off or letdown after such a huge event in DC. It would have been human nature, but it turns out that being not so far removed from your playing days and also following in the footsteps of the best to ever do it. Jon Scheyer has picked up a few lessons along the way. He’s been coaching against human nature from the start and beating it handily, and his Blue Devils did the exact same thing to a hobbled Notre Dame team that came into the season with a lot of promise. Injuries have certainly curtailed any hope of their pre-season expectations coming to fruition with the injury to Markus Burton and, more recently, freshman Jalen Haralson missing time. Micah Shrewsberry is probably doing as good a job as one could expect under the circumstances. The ACC is much better, and to win at less than full strength is just not feasible.
Duke really didn’t face much resistance from the Irish; the game pressure Duke did face was mostly self-inflicted in the way of the re-emergence of foul trouble once again for the Duke big men. It wouldn’t matter in a game that was basically over at halftime and probably allowed Jon Scheyer to do some tinkering with his lineups. So probably a net positive in the end. Oh, and when I say it was over at halftime, the score was Cam Boozer 20, Notre Dame 22. I mean, sorry, Duke 54, Notre Dame 22. Speaking of Boozer, he would go on to score 24 points on 5-of-8 shooting and 12-of-14 from the line in 24 minutes of action, only playing 9 in the second half. He also added 13 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals. He did Boozer things.
The person that benefitted the most from Jon Scheyer tinkering with his rotation was sophomore Darren Harris, who logged 17 minutes and used his time to put up a career-high 16 points on 4-9 shooting. Six Blue Devils finished the game in double figures, marking the second time this season Duke has had at least six players with 10 or more points (vs. Niagara). Unsung in the box score was Harris’ defensive effort and his willingness to put his body on the line on several plays for Duke. Despite not logging a minute of action against Michigan, he was undeterred and showed out for Jon Scheyer. Duke also got double-figure efforts from Caleb Foster, who again, quietly had a huge game with 13 points on 3-5 from 3pt range; he also dished 3 assists to zero turnovers. Patrick Ngongba also tallied 13 points, despite being in foul trouble for most of the game. Isaiah Evans and Cayden Boozer both added 10 points as Duke pounded the Irish to the tune of 100-56. The Blue Devils exerted their will on the glass in this game, out-rebounding Notre Dame 49-27. They also had 20 assists on 27 made buckets and scored 23 points off of Notre Dame’s 15 turnovers. The Blue Devils turned 14 offensive rebounds into 14 second-chance points and dominated the fast break points with a 19 to 3 edge.
With the win, Duke secures a double-bye in the ACC tournament, and they move to 26-2 and 14-1 in the ACC with a battle against Virginia looming on Saturday for ACC regular season supremacy.