MBB: Duke vs. Wofford (Sat 11/16, 12pm ET, ACCN) Pregame and In-Game Thread

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The #6 Blue Devils have an opportunity to regroup after a difficult loss to #19 Kentucky in Tuesday's State Farm Champions Classic. They host Wofford for a noon game on Saturday, broadcast on the ACC Network (streaming link, listen, live stats). It's also their last opportunity to regroup before flying out west next week to play a true road game against #9 Arizona (Friday 11/22) and the Vegas Showdown against #1 Kansas (Tuesday 11/26).

That doesn't necessarily mean that Saturday's game will be easy. Wofford is one of those mid-major opponents with a large core of returning players who have experience playing together. In this case, their top 8 scorers from last season have all returned. They are coached by Dwight Perry, who took over the program 9 games into the 2022-2023 campaign, so he's now in his second full season. They were picked to finish 4th in the SoCon preseason poll, and two of their players, Kyler Filewich and Corey Tripp, were named to the 10-man preseason All-Conference Team.

The Terriers took an overseas trip in August, visiting Egypt and Greece, and played an exhibition game against a select team in Athens. I wrote about the trip and provided a mini-preview of the team here.

The Field of 68 provided a more thorough preview of Wofford as part of their coverage of SoCon Media Day. Hosts Rob Dauster, Jeff Goodman, and Terrence Oglesby conducted one interview with Coach Perry and a second interview with Filewich and Tripp.


Coach Perry: "We are still going to be a retention-based program... There's always going to be a place for the right type of transfers, but by and large, we're going to really be heavy on culture..."


Rob Dauster: "Corey, you had six game-winning or game tying shots at the end of games last season, so Kyler, I want to ask you: when he's got the ball at the end of a clock, with the game on the line, how confident are you that shot's going to go in?"

Kyler Filewich: "Very confident. I mean, that's what we look for as a team, obviously. It's something that he showed early in the season, and we played a lot of close games last year. He was able to come up big for us in those moments. So it's kind of a thing -- we know to get the ball to him, and I'll just try to look for a rebound, but the rebound's very rarely coming off, so just let him get to the money."

After a season opening home win against Division II Erskine College, they are 0-2, with a 78-69 road loss against Lipscomb (recap, box score) and a 71-68 road loss against Presbyterian (recap, box score). Then they come to Cameron, and after that they play 3 games in Milwaukee, as part of a multi-team event called the Cream City Challenge. They don't have their first home game against a Division I opponent until December 1. What a weird schedule.

With so many returning players, we have a pretty good idea of how Coach Perry uses his roster. This is his likely rotation:

PROBABLE STARTERS

6-3 senior guard Corey Tripp (12.3 pts, 3.0 reb, 4.3 ast)
6-6 senior guard Jackson Sivills (12.0 pts, 1.7 reb, 1.0 ast, 1.0 stl)
6-3 senior guard Dillon Bailey (11.7 pts, 2.0 reb, 1.0 ast)
6-9 senior center Kyler Filewich (9.7 pts, 10.7 reb, 4.0 ast, 1.0 stl)
6-3 junior guard Justin Bailey (8.7 pts, 3.3 reb, 1.3 ast, 2.7 stl)

TOP RESERVES

6-8 sophomore forward Jeremy Lorenz (9.7 pts, 3.3 reb, 1.3 ast, 1.0 stl)
6-2 junior guard Anthony Arrington Jr (6.0 pts, 4.3 reb, 3.0 ast, 1.3 stl)
6-3 freshman guard Kahmare Holmes (5.3 pts, 2.7 reb, 0.7 ast)
6-8 sophomore forward Belal El Shakery (4.3 pts, 5.3 reb, 1.3 ast)
6-1 freshman guard Luke Flynn (2.7 pts, 3.0 reb, 1.7 ast)

BENCH PLAYERS

6-10 sophomore forward Don Douglass (2.0 pts, 6.0 reb, 0.0 ast)
6-5 freshman guard Hank Neace
6-7 freshman forward Cannon Richards

Bart Torvik gave Wofford a preseason ranking of #149, and they've since moved down to #160. He estimates a Duke win by the score of 87-64.
 
Will James Malauch and Ngongba be available
And will Scheyer play Harris and Evans?
Long season play as many as possible
I'd go even further and look at whether Scheyer plays Harris and Evans in the first half. Playing them the last 4 minutes of a blowout does nothing to integrate them into the rotation at all. Especially when they're in there with Hubbard and Cameron and Neil......
 
Filewich is a great name. Seems like he must have had an ancestor who was an English bureaucrat,

Looking at the stats, Wofford plays slow and takes a lot of threes. Doesn't get to the line very much. Defensively, not a lot stands out, but their opponents are hitting 41% of their threes so far.

I assume Sion is out, so I hope Jon works in one or both of Harris and Evans into the rotation.
 
I think it's key they get Ngbongo some time in this game I think you will need him against Kansas. Maluach will have to guard Dickerson and we don't really have anyone else to bang down low with him. I'm not worried about Auburn to be honest I wouldn't be surprised if we beat the drums off them. They haven't been shooting well from outside. Also any update on Sion?
 
I'd go even further and look at whether Scheyer plays Harris and Evans in the first half. Playing them the last 4 minutes of a blowout does nothing to integrate them into the rotation at all. Especially when they're in there with Hubbard and Cameron and Neil......
At some point you gotta play guys if they can become capable scoring threats. We need someone to score besides Kon and Flagg and we can't have this one on one ball. To be honest I'd love to see a lineup where we put out Proctor, Harris, Evans, Flagg, and Kon. How would a team stop that. You got Proctor who is shooting lights out from outside on the wing with everyone capable of shooting.
 
Filewich is a great name. Seems like he must have had an ancestor who was an English bureaucrat

Yes, the Earl of Filewich was an honorable title bestowed during Restoration, circa 1662, by Charles II. Interestingly, it is held by members of the Capollette family, while the Earl of Sandwich -- established a couple of years earlier by His Royal Highness in 1660 -- was given to Sir Edward Montagu. Keep in mind this was about six decades after Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet. He was ahead of his time.

Looking at the stats, Wofford plays slow and takes a lot of threes. Doesn't get to the line very much. Defensively, not a lot stands out, but their opponents are hitting 41% of their threes so far.

Good observations. Normally I would put the team stats in my game preview, but Wofford just played Presbyterian last night, and Basketball Reference didn't update their site to include Wednesday's games until this morning.

The Presbyterian loss knocked some of Wofford's more eye-opening statistical categories down, and out of the stratosphere (statosphere?). Despite having a bottom 10 adjusted tempo (according to KenPom), they launch a lot of shots from the field, the majority from beyond the arc. I can't exactly reconcile those two statements, but it helps that they pull down a lot of offensive rebounds to give themselves at least some more attempts per possession. A sample comparison between the two teams:

WOFFORD

Field Goal Attempts: 69.0 (19th nationally)
2-Point Attempts: 32.3 (277th)
3-Point Attempts: 36.7 (7th)
Free Throw Attempts: 12.0 (348th)
Offensive Rebounds: 16.0 (18th)

DUKE

Field Goal Attempts: 68.3 (27th)
2-Point Attempts: 38.3 (131st)
3-Point Attempts: 30.0 (49th)
Free Throw Attempts: 18.3 (245th)
Offensive Rebounds: 13.3 (84th)

Before last night, I believe the Terriers were attempting 75 field goals and 41 of them were threes. I realize that these stats are heavily skewed by including a blowout against a Division II opponent, but I still don't know how you do that if you play slow.

Anyway, the current stats show that the two teams put up about the same number of shots, only Duke shoots six more 2-pointers, while Wofford shoots 6 more 3-pointers. I don't want to get too deep into early season stats with limited meaning, but Duke is a much better defensive rebounding team (31.7) than Wofford's previous opponents (23.3), which should limit second chances.
 
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At some point you gotta play guys if they can become capable scoring threats. We need someone to score besides Kon and Flagg and we can't have this one on one ball. To be honest I'd love to see a lineup where we put out Proctor, Harris, Evans, Flagg, and Kon. How would a team stop that. You got Proctor who is shooting lights out from outside on the wing with everyone capable of shooting.
Good offense, but if Cooper doesn't get all the rebounds, we will have to score 100 points per game because Proctor and Cooper are the only good defenders in that five.

GoDuke!
 
Good offense, but if Cooper doesn't get all the rebounds, we will have to score 100 points per game because Proctor and Cooper are the only good defenders in that five.

GoDuke!
Foster is at least a marginally + defender.
At some point you gotta play guys if they can become capable scoring threats. We need someone to score besides Kon and Flagg and we can't have this one on one ball. To be honest I'd love to see a lineup where we put out Proctor, Harris, Evans, Flagg, and Kon. How would a team stop that. You got Proctor who is shooting lights out from outside on the wing with everyone capable of shooting.
I agree that giving Harris and Evans 1st-half minutes might generate some benefit, but probably not as much benefit at this point in time as the best 8 players learning how to play together. This was evidenced vs UK in that our offense fell apart late b/c the players didn't have a very deeply learned connectivity with each other. None of the guys in that top-8 are offensively inept, even Maliq has one thing that he does very well if he can allow himself to do it (there was at least one Oboard that he grabbed that he should have just gone right back up with, but instead passed the ball out which ended up in an empty possession). But to your point, for a few possessions here and there it might be a good idea to go all in on 3pt shooting and have neither Maluach nor Brown on the floor, and to that end we've got 5 guys "in the rotation" who already fit that bill. Even with Sion injured and possibly out for some time, we've still got 5 who fit that bill.
vs. Wofford, sure, let's give the proposed group a try, but i would still rather have our top 8 learn how trust each other fully so that we don't have offensive collapses like we had vs. UK.
 
I think it's key they get Ngbongo some time in this game I think you will need him against Kansas. Maluach will have to guard Dickerson and we don't really have anyone else to bang down low with him. I'm not worried about Auburn to be honest I wouldn't be surprised if we beat the drums off them. They haven't been shooting well from outside. Also any update on Sion?

I’m way more worried about Auburn than Kansas. I think if either Kentucky or Duke had played Kansas in the champions classic, Kansas would have lost.

Auburn didn’t shoot well against Houston, well because Houston is the #1 defense. But pettiford did hit 5-8 from 3, and he’s the type of lightning quick guard that could give Duke’s taller defenders some problems. Dajuan Harris does not scare me at all compared to Auburn’s guards. The guy is a very middling scoring threat. Most of all, Broome is a way better overall 2-way player than Dickinson IMO.
 
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Too soon for a Sion Shoulder Vigil?
Suspect the ACC will institute an injury report policy like the SEC has in place in the next year or two and will be as uninformative by coaches not wanting to give an advantage. Conferences which have done so do not apply the rule to non-con games because the opponent would not be bound by the rule, so would not apply to Wofford or AZ.
 
Finally, it's time for another game! Hoping the Devils come out with full defensive intensity, making it very hard for the Terriers to do more than nip at the Devils' ankles.
 
GAME DAY!

What I am interested in...
-Assuming Sion doesn't play, how does Jon shape the rotation? Assuming the same starters, we usually bring the Uncles off the bench. Will Evans or Harris sub in first? Will they both get equal looks or will one appear to be above the other at this point - it seemed to be Evans prior to the Kentucky game. On a related note...
-Will we see Big Pat for the first time this season to try and get him game ready for the looming Arizona and Kansas games?
-Prior to Kentucky, we had been hoisting a lot more 3s. Wofford shoots a ton of 3s. Will we get back to trying to shoot a higher % of our shots from 3, and pushing the pace?
-While I was not happy that we lost to Kentucky, I wasn't bothered by the last few minutes in terms of Cooper's turnovers. To me, that loss told me everything I need to know about that kid, and that is that he IS THAT DUDE! He was the best player on the court, by far, was ready, willing and able to lead us on both ends, and wasn't afraid of the smoke that comes with taking the big shots. So, I want to see how he bounces back today. Has he embraced the "next play" Duke mantra? Will he maintain his ego and not overpass, etc.
 
The #6 Blue Devils have an opportunity to regroup after a difficult loss to #19 Kentucky in Tuesday's State Farm Champions Classic. They host Wofford for a noon game on Saturday, broadcast on the ACC Network (streaming link, listen, live stats). It's also their last opportunity to regroup before flying out west next week to play a true road game against #9 Arizona (Friday 11/22) and the Vegas Showdown against #1 Kansas (Tuesday 11/26).

It's game day. Remember, tipoff is at noon ET. Here are Duke's game preview and PDF game notes, and Wofford's PDF game notes. Before you ask, none of this content offers any updates on Sion James' injured shoulder from Tuesday's game. Kevin Brown and Jon Crispin will be announcing the game on TV. Maybe they'll say something.

mbb20241116.jpg
(source)

Wofford's game notes say that the game is also on ESPN+, but I'm not seeing a link for that on ESPN's website, so it's probably a mistake on their part. They do offer an alternative form of audio streaming on their LeanStream player.

If you subscribe to Sirius XM -- say, you're driving during the game -- you can listen to The Blue Devil Sports Network broadcast on channel 995.
 
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