Jon Scheyer picks up first technical foul as Duke coach
The Bucknell Bison were giving the Duke Blue Devils a little bit of trouble early on Friday evening. The Blue Devils eventually started to create a bit of separation, and their head coach decided to bring some passion and emotion to the floor. Duke small forward Mark Mitchell appeared to be hacked by a number of Bucknell defenders when going up for a layup. Officials didn’t call anything and that made Scheyer furious.
Scheyer began berating the official on the sidelines for about 10 seconds, before he had finally heard enough, and the referee issued the technical foul with 12:15 remaining in the first half with Duke up 19-9. It was the first technical foul in Scheyer’s career as a head coach.
Here’s the video of Scheyer yelling at the official.
After the technical foul was issued, Scheyer was still talking with the official for a little bit after. Mitchell made the bucket on his layup, but he clearly wanted a foul call for a chance at a free throw.
While Scheyer might have been frustrated with the call, the Blue Devils went on to cruise to a blowout victory, 90-60. Mark Mitchell pumped in career-high 20 points in the win.
Scheyer may have just been trying to motivate his team and give them a spark. Because after the technical foul, the Blue Devils really started to turn it on. They finished the game with four players in double figures, including a double-double from Jared McCain.
Duke outrebounded Bucknell 46-27 on Friday night.
Duke also had a big win on Tuesday against Michigan State
Duke secured a big win on Tuesday night in the State Farm Champions Classic in Chicago, defeating No. 18 Michigan State 74-65 to remain undefeated at the start of the college basketball season.
The Champions Classic debuted in 2011, pitting four of the nation’s top programs, Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, and Michigan State, against one another to tip off the college basketball season. The game has varied between being played as the first, second, or third game of the season, with this year’s edition falling on the third. Which led to Duke head coach Jon Scheyer being asked what his preference is on when the game is played.
“I’m not sure, at first I would’ve said the first game of the year and now say maybe it’s good to have a couple games under our belt,” Scheyer said.
Tuesday’s game was a homecoming for Scheyer, a Northbrook, Illinois native who became the fourth-leading scorer in Illinois high school history with 3,034 career points before taking his talents to Duke.
On3’s Kaiden Smith also contributed to this article.