Jon Scheyer Believes Duke Had a Learning Experience vs. Army

The Duke Blue Devils opened up the 2026-27 college basketball season with a blowout win over Army at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Monday night. The win moved Duke to 1-0 overall early on in the year and it's a game that can help them in terms of getting into a rhythm before the schedule gets tougher. 

They now return to the court on Thursday night, hosting Coastal Carolina with the chance to go 2-0. 

As Duke enters this game, they are once again double-digit favorites on the home court and it should be another win for them. While these games seem easy on paper in terms of the spreads and level of opponents, you can still learn some things. 

And that's what head coach Jon Scheyer is pointing to in the win over Army. 

In Duke's 84-50 win over Army, Scheyer believes that the Blue Devils were tested a bit by the opponent. Duke opened up the game, making their first seven shots to grab the lead and keep it comfortably throughout. But after that, Duke went 5-of-20 and managed just 33 points in the first half against a bad Army team. 

The reason? Army's zone gave Duke some trouble on that end of the court. That was on Scheyer's mind after the game. 

He told the media that the struggles were on him as Army went to a zone and that's something that Duke doesn't practice against as they run a different defense. 

Scheyer went on to say that his team can use this as a learning experience. The Blue Devils aren't going to change their defensive philosophy in practices and I'm sure other programs will try to hit Duke with that on the defensive end. So seeing it this early might be a good thing for this Blue Devils team.

Scheyer also pointed to his team feeling like they 'let people down' after not extending the lead early in the game when they had the chance. That's not how Duke wants to play, especially in front of their home crowd and as the No. 2 team in the country. 

The good news for Duke and Scheyer is that they have another quick chance to impress and play well this week. With Coastal Carolina coming to town, Duke can end the first week of the season at 2-0 before getting into the tough part of their schedule.

Duke and Coastal Carolina will tip-off at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday.