brevity
Member
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.
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.
