No. 2 Duke has distinguished itself in most areas, and yet not all good news goes into the weekend.
The Blue Devils could be down to a couple of players, as injuries have suffered at an unmatched time.
So how Duke reacts to the latest guard lists will be worth mapping when Florida State arrives at Durham, NC, for Saturday Night’s Atlantic Coast Conference game.
Duke (25-3, 16-1) has a five-game winning line, with an average margin of 31 points. With eight conference victories with more than 25 points, it is mostly at that level of a season in ACC history.
“We know what’s forward,” said coach Jon Scheyer. “We know that the battles we will be in. We know it can happen every night.”
Junior Guard Tyrese Proctor left a knee injury during Duke’s 97-60 rush Tuesday evening at Miami. He is indefinitely, even if it is not believed to be a seasonal disease.
Florida State (16-12, 7-10) has lost back-to-back games and will strive for only its third road victory this season.
Duke, already without the damaged spare post Maliq Brown, will apparently be minus Proctor for the Florida State game. Proctor, who led Blue Devils in points in three matches in February, reached 1,000 career points before leaving during the first half of the year.
So there may be an increased role for beginner Isaiah Evans, who has had a new rise in production and started the second half of the Miami game.
“Isaiah has established himself with what he has done,” Scheyer said. “It’s easy to talk about shooting. His defense has been outside the lists. He watches the ball as well as anyone.”
Evans made five 3 points during the first half Tuesday. In the last three games he is an average of 16.7 points and has shot 13-for-19 on 3-points.
“You just have to trust yourself at the end of the day,” Evans said.
Florida State has allowed 89 and 96 points respectively in its last two matches, so defense will be important for Seminoles.
The guard Jamir Watkins has been the Florida State top scorer in six of the last seven matches. Redshirt Senior is an average of 18.4 points per match, including a career high 26 on Monday evening in a loss of 96-85 to visit North Carolina.
Seminoles also received a season best 16 points from Jerry Deng, which contributed four of the team’s 10 baskets from 3 points.
“Every time he plays he gets better,” said coach Leonard Hamilton. “When you think about it, he should still be in high school for his older year. But he came out a year early. He has made huge progress.”
Duke’s results against Miami marked the largest final margin in a game between two ACC teams this season. Despite the string of oblique victories, there is no reason to release.
“I just think our mission is bigger,” Scheyer said. “You have to have great humility in this. It is sensitive. It can change very quickly. I love the killer instinct that our team has had. I love the approach to every game. They do not have much time.”
In his third season, Scheyer is 79-21 over his first 100 matches as Duke’s coach after replacing the Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski.
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