The Duke Blue Devils have one of the toughest schedules in college basketball. Head coach Jon Scheyer wanted it that way. And while his squad has handled the likes of Florida, Kansas, Arkansas and Michigan State – all top-20 ranked teams – it was the Lipscomb Bison that gave them the greatest challenge of their early season.
The Blue Devils jumped out to a 10-0 lead over the first four minutes, before five turnovers and 10- 0 Lipscomb run tied the game. The Bison would go on to outscore Duke 16-4 over the next four minutes, giving them a ten point lead with 10:40 remaining in the 1st half – the largest deficit Duke has faced all season.
The Blue Devils closed the first half outscoring Lipscomb 32-19 – heading to halftime with a 48-45 lead.
The second half was a different story for Duke as they limited their turnovers and stepped up their defense – ultimately defeating Lipscomb 97-73.
Some may think the Blue Devils were rusty after a nearly two week break or that they slept on their mid-major opponent, but that wasn’t the case. Lipscomb is a good team.
“Hats off to Lipscomb and Coach [Kevin] Carroll. Watching them on film, I was very concerned that what happened could happen,” head coach Jon Scheyer said after the win. “They run great stuff. He’s a really good coach. He’s done a great job with a new team and some turnover. I thought the actions they ran against our switching were great. I thought the physicality they played with, the defense; I can’t say enough about them.”
“We definitely had a rough game, turned the ball over, things like that, especially for me,” freshman Cameron Boozer said. “But youāve got to give props to Lipscomb,
too. Theyāre a great mid-major team. Theyāre a team that has a great chance to make the tournament later on. Coach said it going in: ‘This is a tournament game ā donāt sleep on Lipscomb.’ Youāve got to give a lot of props to them. Weāve got to be better, for sure, but theyāre a great team.ā
These are the type of matchups where national championship caliber teams get caught slipping in March (see UVA in 2018 and Duke in 2014). To have this type of challenge in December should only benefit the Blue Devils.
“Today was a great reminder for us,” Scheyer said. “Anytime you step out on this floor, we’re not above any loss or any opportunity to look bad. And I thought the wake-up and the response was great, but I would like them to learn that lesson.”
Next up Duke travels to New York to take on 19th ranked Texas Tech in the SentinelOne Classic Saturday November, 20th.
