Exhibition preview: UCF at Duke
This will be the first of three “Brotherhood Run” games at Duke this season.
It counts that Johnny Dawkins is returning to Cameron Indoor Stadium; it just doesn’t count in any standings.
Duke plays host to UCF on Tuesday night in an exhibition game. It’s the first two preseason games for the Blue Devils; they play at Tennessee on Sunday night.
The Blue Devils are entering their fourth season with Jon Scheyer as head coach. They’re coming off a 35-win season and Final Four berth. Scheyer has five returning players from that team, plus five freshmen, to create a rotation as Duke hunts its sixth national championship.
In the regular season, Duke will play “Brotherhood Run” games against Niagara — coached by Greg Paulus — and Howard — coached by Kenneth Blakeney. Those games will be Nov. 21 and 23, respectively.
Nuts and bolts for UCF-Duke
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Cameron Indoor Stadium.
TV: ACC Network Extra.
Radio link: Click here for the link to Duke’s radio call.
What to know for UCF-Duke
Stat to watch: 100%.
UCF lost that much of its scoring from last season. It’s a complete roster overhaul for Dawkins, entering his 11th season with the Knights.
Matchup to watch: Duke’s rim pressure vs. UCF’s John Bol.
It’s unlikely Duke is going to see a bigger center than Bol.
He’s a 7-2 sophomore who transferred after playing sparingly at Mississippi last year. Bol is set to be the first player who’s played in the McDonald’s All-American game to play for UCF.
Players to watch
Knight to watch: Guard Riley Kugel (No. 2).
He played his first two seasons at Florida and spent last season at Mississippi State. Kugel has been remarkably consistent — his scoring averages across three seasons have been 9.9, 9.2 and 9.3.
It’s hard to pinpoint who UCF’s top player(s) will be, given it’s an entirely new roster. But the smart money would be on Kugel, having playing 98 games in his career and all in the SEC, at least starting the season with a significant role for UCF.
Blue Devil to watch: Forward Cameron Boozer (No. 12).
Let’s not overthink this one.
Boozer is going to be Duke’s most-important player all season. He’ll be a go-to option on offense and could be one of the best rebounders in the country, despite being a freshman.
The 6-9, 250-pounder was decent, if not a little quiet, the only time we saw him in the preseason. That was a 12-minute scrimmage at Countdown to Craziness — hardly the best to evaluate the potential No. 1 pick.
The essentials for UCF-Duke
What’s on deck: Duke’s second exhibition game will be Sunday night at Tennessee. That’s likely to be the more competitive of Duke’s preseason slate; the Vols are No. 9 in KenPom’s preseason rank and No. 18 in the AP Top 25.
Injury report: The big one to monitor is Maliq Brown. Duke’s senior forward appeared to be practicing with full contact last week.
