Duke head coach Jon Scheyer came away happy with his team’s defensive progress following the Blue Devils’ win over Boston College, even though it felt like Duke could’ve done things better in its 67-49 win on Tuesday.
While giving up 49 points should never be viewed as a bad thing, Duke is among the top three-five teams in the country, and there’s an argument that Boston College is one of the worst Power 4 teams in the nation.
Despite that, an ACC win is an ACC win, and Scheyer was content with how his squad played.
“I think the effort's there. I think there's great effort. You know, I love the first sequence, how we started the game. I thought there was great purpose, great intensity. One of the best plays to me, Caleb was in the gap, Isaiah dove for a loose ball, we got it and then Dame ended up getting a dunk on the other end. If you watch that possession, I thought it was the ultimate five guys moving on a string together and that's something we've really worked hard on. So our guys are picking it up, they're moving better, they understand game plans really well, but I think the main thing is just the focus and the effort has been there. I'm really proud of that,” he said, per Anna Snyder.
That opening stretch, as Scheyer described, served as a snapshot of what Duke is striving to become defensively. It wasn’t about a single highlight play, but rather everyone being locked in on that side of the basketball at the same time
However, the more concerning part was what Duke did on the offensive side of the basketball.
Not that Duke was the worst it has ever been on that front, but it should’ve been better, and Scheyer acknowledged that after the game. While he gave credit to Boston College for its defense, he also understands he needs to do a better job of having his guys ready to go offensively.
"I got to watch the film. It doesn't feel good, obviously, scoring 25 points. ... It's not fun scoring 25 points in a half, but if you're gonna score 25, at least hold them to less. That's the one thing I would say, so that's good. I thought we were just slow. We weren't sharp and that's on me.
"I think for our guys, each game presents different challenges and I thought in the second half, you know, Boston College has a top five defense in the league and I thought their physicality stood us up and ... we weren't as sharp as we normally are but not looking ahead."