Preview: Wofford at No. 6 Duke

The first big match duke The season didn’t go the Blue Devils’ way.

They’re going to have more important ones, including two as soon as possible – but not immediately.

Duke hosts Wofford on Saturday and is favored by 20 on KenPom over the Southern Conference team. The Terriers’ only win this season was against a Division II team.

This next game should be a good matchup for the Blue Devils before diving back into the challenge of their non-conference schedule.

‘We have a long season to play and I feel more optimistic tonight, losing, than before’ playing at Kentucky Tuesday night, coach Jon Scheyer said.

“Because in this game you discover the character of your team, the heart that they have. And this team has a lot of heart,” he added.

After Saturday’s game, three of Duke’s next four games are at Arizona, against Kansas in Las Vegas and at home against Auburn in the ACC-SEC Challenge. And after hosting Auburn, the Blue Devils play their ACC opener, which will take place in Louisville – hardly the pushover they’ve been the past two seasons and rejuvenated with a new coach and a new team.

This is a roundabout discussion to talk about Duke’s loss to Kentucky and how many of the Blue Devils’ problems can be fixed versus how many of them cause a reevaluation of things.

Duke isn’t going to win many big games — or even games, for that matter — with a player scoring a basket in the final 10 minutes. It was the burden of a 17 year old Cooper Flagg Tuesday evening; Mason Gillis had a tip-in with 10:51 left and for the rest of the game the non-Flagg Blue Devils shot a combined 0-for-8.

Duke also lost the advantages it had in the first half, going from Kentucky 28-6 in the paint to the Wildcats holding a 20-18 advantage, and having significant advantages in points off turnovers (11-0 ) and quick break points. (8-1) both swing in favor of Kentucky (9-4 for the Wildcats in both categories for the second half).

But where this happens is assuming Duke freshmen will learn; This is what Scheyer is banking on. How many more times Kon Knueppel is he going to be 5 for 20 in a game? Or how many halves will Duke have in which it shoots 1 of 11 from 3-point range? How often Khaman Malouach are you going to have cramps? How many changes if Zion James isn’t he suffering from a shoulder injury with 12½ minutes to go?

It’s a long season in which many of these questions, if not already answered, will be answered in short order.

The answers simply won’t come on Saturday.

Here’s what you need to know ahead of Saturday’s game:

Time: 12 p.m.

Location: Cameron Indoor Stadium.

TV: ACC Network.

Series; last meeting: Duke leads 7-0; Duke won 86-57 in December 2019, with Joey Baker scoring a game-high 22 points off the bench.

Records: Wofford 1-2; Duke 2-1.

Stat to watch: 96/109.

The first number is the number of 2-point shots Wofford has made this season; the second is the number of 3s Wofford took.

It’s easy to imagine the Terriers throwing long distance in this one.

If the track record isn’t proof enough, Duke’s size advantage in the frontcourt with Maluach, Flagg and Maliq Brown should move Wofford’s offense further away from Duke’s paint.

This is going to be a good test for the Blue Devils.

Kentucky was 10 of 25 from 3-point range against Duke. The Blue Devils had gone 21 straight games without allowing double-digit 3s, dating back to last season’s loss to Pittsburgh.

Looking ahead: Arizona has made eight 3s in each of its two games so far and Kansas has made 11 in its first game of the season, and has made 11 total in its two last matches. Duke’s 3-point defense could come under scrutiny when the Blue Devils face Auburn, which has the No. 2 offense in the country (according to KenPom) and has made 29 3-pointers during its first three matches.

Match to follow: Duke Freshmen Against Hydration.

Facetious, yes – but only to a certain extent.

After Flagg left Duke’s first two games with cramps, Maluach suffered them in the second half against Kentucky.

This is understandably a frustrating subject for Scheyer.

“It’s concerning,” he said after Tuesday night’s game. “I think part of it is that we have young bodies. … We have to help these guys. We’re not just trying to dip our toes in the water. We need Cooper to play a lot and Khaman… so obviously that’s something we need to look at carefully.

Terrier to watch out for: Guard/wing Corey Tripp (No. 10).

Wofford’s leading scorer from a year ago didn’t exactly improve the stats in the Terriers’ season-opening blowout of Division II Erskine College — seven points, 0-3 from 3 — but has had back-to-back 15-point games since then. .

This matches where Tripp was last season, scoring 15.6 points per game. This earned senior All-Southern Conference second team honors.

The 6-3, 195-pounder has seemingly — albeit with a small sample size — improved his long-range shooting this year. Tripp was a 27.7 percent 3-point shooter last season; after his oh-fer in the first game, he made 6 of 11 3s. He’s also a good facilitator, with 13 assists and three turnovers this season; Tripp had 108 assists and 67 turnovers last year.

Blue Devil to watch out for: Guard Caleb Foster (No. 1).

It’s not exactly a shortage of candidates to choose from.

And if the question was which Blue Devil would be worth watching during pregame activities, it would obviously be James to see how he handles his injured right shoulder.

But we’re going with Foster, who was 2 of 9 from the field and scored four points against Kentucky.

Wofford’s guards won’t be confused with Kentucky’s any time soon. But regardless of the competition, you’ll want to see Foster make a few shots – preferably early – to regain some confidence against the Terriers.

The 6-foot-5, 202-pound sophomore scored 11 points in each of Duke’s first two games. Foster also had a rough outing in Duke’s first big game last season, going scoreless in 13 minutes against Arizona; he followed that up with what still stands as his career high, an 18-point game against Michigan State.

What’s on deck: Duke has almost a bye week, but its next two games will tell much of the story on how the Blue Devils’ non-conference slate is judged.

Duke is in Arizona on Friday night, completing a home-and-home series against the Wildcats that saw them come to Durham and win early last season. And Duke will stay out West to face Kansas on November 26.

Wofford also won’t play again until Friday, when the Terriers travel to the Cream City Challenge in Milwaukee for three games in three days, starting with Friday’s game against the University of St. Thomas.

KenPom prediction: Duke wins 84-64.

What a Duke loss looks like: Fire alarms are going off in Cameron…and every other alarm bell that could go off.

This isn’t a must-win game for the Blue Devils, but it’s another one where a lot has to go wrong for them to lose. We’re talking about Wofford shooting 50% from 3 and Duke shooting 20%, or a double-digit turnover differential – stuff like that would keep Duke beat.

What a Duke win looks like: Conversely, the formula for Duke to win this game has some variations.

The Blue Devils could rain 3s on Wofford, like they did against Army the last time they were at home. Or they can pound him inside and use their size advantage in the paint.

What you’ll want to see – what Scheyer probably wants to see – is a defense that takes Wofford out from the 3-point line, taking away the Terriers’ strength. And you’ll want to see Duke’s offense get back into gear after the 1-of-11 3-point performance in the second half against Kentucky.

As long as those things happen, it will be a relatively stress-free game for Duke.