Jon Scheyer details what makes Duke roster special

Duke has had to learn a lot through their 10-2 overall start to the season. Jon Scheyer has navigated through his first experience as a head coach with a team that’s fairly young or at least are new to the Blue Devil program. Still, through 12 games, Scheyer sees some things that can make his team special.

Scheyer loved what he has seen from his team defensively during their start to the season and shared his thoughts on it after Duke’s 74-62 win over an Iowa team that has one of the nation’s best offenses. He sees the length of their frontcourt duo as a big part of that success so far.

“That 1-2 punch of (Dereck) Lively and Ryan Young in the frontcourt?,” said Scheyer. “Ryan has been well-coached and he’s played college basketball for now five years. He knows everything he’s supposed to do. And Dereck? Just his length. Forget about the blocks but just his presence down there really impacts a lot.”

Lively has picked up steam this season while Young has been a quality pickup for the Blue Devils off the bench. Combine their production and they’re averaging 10.3 rebounds and 2.7 blocks on the season. That’s not even including freshman Kyle Filipowski either who’s averaging 9.2 boards and just under a block on his own.

From there, Scheyer’s just as proud of Duke’s defensive intensity on the perimeter. He says the length applies again as he credited two more freshmen in Mark Mitchell and Dariq Whitehead for their effort on that side of the basketball.

“I think it starts when you have guards that can defend the ball, which we do…(It’s) the length we have on the perimeter. You have a guy like Mark or Dariq? That’s some pretty good length,” Scheyer said. “It started with the ball pressure. Give Mark and Dariq a lot of credit for just their discipline. For freshman, first time in The Garden? I think they showed a lot about their character and their makeup tonight.”

Scheyer is counting on Duke’s offense to pick up over the course of the season. As of now, though, he’s happy with the defense they’re putting out there as they’re allowing just 58.7 points per game. It’s been a big part of the start to their year and will be important for the Blue Devils to keep up as they truly start ACC play next week.