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Preview: Bellarmine at No. 7 Duke

Now that Jon Scheyer has full assortment, he’ll go to work with variety of lineups

Duke coach Jon Scheyer has the full assortment of his roster and will go to work on finding the best lineups for the Blue Devils.
Duke coach Jon Scheyer has the full assortment of his roster and will go to work on finding the best lineups for the Blue Devils. (Rob Kinnan/USA Today Sports Images)
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DURHAM – Now that Jon Scheyer has his full assortment of players for the first time in his first season, how long will he be experimenting with lineups and rotations?

Like the injury situations with Dereck Lively II and Dariq Whitehead, there isn’t a set timeline. But Duke’s first-year coach knows it’ll be a while.

“I think we’re going to learn a lot every single day with this group,” Scheyer said after Friday night’s win against Delaware. “I don’t know if I’ll have that answer for you for a couple of months.”

Delaware brought the debut of Whitehead, though there will surely be a larger role for him as he further acclimates after missing most of the last two months with a fracture in his right foot.

Lively’s first start of the season was against the Blue Hens, with the 7-footer fouling out but also supplying five points and four assists.

“I think we’re going to continue to find things out about each other,” Scheyer said.

Lively moving into the starting lineup and Ryan Young coming off of the bench is the only change that’s occurred in Duke’s starting lineup — at least to this point. Jeremy Roach, Tyrese Proctor, Mark Mitchell and Kyle Filipowski have started each game.

Scheyer has called Roach Duke’s “most-important player,” while Mitchell and Filipowski have been impressive in their first four games. Proctor found an offensive rhythm in the second half against Kansas and it translated to his first double-figure scoring performance, with 13 points against Delaware, along with 10 rebounds.

While it’s unlikely Jaylen Blakes or Jacob Grandison works their way into the starting lineup, it’s to Scheyer’s — and Duke’s — benefit that both have established roles off of the bench.

“That’s a huge thing,” Scheyer said earlier this season of that duo. “(Against USC Upstate) we got better when those two guys went into the game. And I don’t think that’s the only time that’s going to happen. They’re consistent, they show up every day.

“And they’re not about scoring. For young kids who watch the game or study, they should watch those two guys because they make an impact beyond scoring.”

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Here’s what to know ahead of Monday night’s game:

Time: 8:30 p.m.

Location: Cameron Indoor Stadium.

TV: ACC Network.

Announcers: Mike Monaco (play-by-play) and Malcolm Huckaby (analyst).

Series; last meeting: Duke leads 1-0; Duke won 76-54 in 2020.

Records: Bellarmine 2-2; Duke 3-1.

Stat to watch: 31.7% | 20.9%.

The first number is Bellarmine’s 3-point percentage and it’s misleading (we’ll get to that); the second is Duke’s 3-point field goal percentage defense.

Let’s start with the Knights: That 31.7% clip is a 29-for-83 mark through four games. In three of the four games, though, Bellarmine has made more than 40% of its 3s.

It’s the 3-for-23 showing against Morehead State in the second game of the season that weighs down the percentage. That was one game after Bellarmine beat crosstown rival Louisville — an understandable let-down game after the Knights notched a win against an ACC team in only their third season of competing as a Division I program.

Duke, meanwhile, entered Sunday’s games with the ninth-best 3-point defense in the country.

Scheyer emphasized defense throughout the past few months and it’s paid off early. Duke’s length and athleticism allows the Blue Devils to change up defensive coverages and, at least so far, they’ve had clamps on teams from behind the arc.

Knight to watch: Guard Peter Suder (No. 5).

This player to watch was scoreless against Louisville.

Suder is a freshman who followed up a scoreless debut against the Cardinals with 24 points in the loss to Morehead State and 22 in a win against non-NCAA member Campbellsville-Harrodsburg.

The 6-5, 210-pounder was the only Knight in double figures against Morehead State — he shot 8-for-16, the rest of Bellarmine was 12-for-44 — and he made 4 of 7 3-pointers against C-H.

Suder dropped back down to nine points in Bellarmine’s 76-66 loss to Clemson on Friday night.

Blue Devil to watch: Wing Dariq Whitehead (No. 0).

Now that Whitehead has his debut out of the way, what is his second game going to look like?

Scheyer said the plan for Friday night was that Whitehead would play 15 minutes and, after a glance at the box score in front of him, chuckled and noted he might not always be that good in substitution pattern (Whitehead played 15 minutes).

One of the other notes from Scheyer was that thought Whitehead was tired and started settling — understandable for a player who’s not yet had a full week of practice, but also not what Duke will need from Whitehead this season.

“He started settling a little bit,” Scheyer said. “He’s a really tough matchup when he’s attacking the rim and playmaking and passing from there. But I really liked his effort.”

KenPom prediction: Duke wins 80-58.

Devils Illustrated prognosis: The benefit of this game for Duke is the same as the benefit of facing a team like Delaware on the front end of the weekend: Bellarmine is going to test the Blue Devils in a way that a first-round NCAA tournament game would.

Bellarmine runs a Princeton-style offense and slows the game down to a crawl — its adjusted tempo is 64.6 possessions per game.

Duke’s last three games have seen each team get 72 possessions each.

The Blue Devils shouldn’t struggle too much here, with talent and length serving as overwhelming advantages. But the game flow is more likely to resemble the game against Delaware — Duke pulling away late — than it’s likely to be a blowout like Duke’s first two games.

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