Preview: No. 8 Duke vs. Oregon State

It might not seem like that big of a deal for Duke to improve 22 spots in defensive efficiency. And only five games into the season, it’s hardly a large sample size.

But the Blue Devils going from 49th in defensive efficiency last season — 95.9 points allowed per 100 possessions, per KenPom — to 27th this season (91.7) is another illustration of what was emphasized to this team over the two months leading into the season.

“‘What is going to be our identity?’” associate head coach Chris Carrawell said of the preseason question. “The players agreed, and the coaches wanted that as well. So we spent a lot of time on defense.”

It’s paying off early. Duke throttled Jacksonville and USC Upstate early, lost to Kansas because of a slow start and a couple of late-game breakdowns, and then put the clamps on Delaware and Bellarmine — two league champions last season — in the past week.

That’s been the prelude to Duke playing in the Phil Knight Legacy, an eight-team tournament that begins with Thursday’s game against Oregon State.

“Coach (Jon) Scheyer and Coach (Jai) Lucas, whos’ been our defensive coordinator, have done a good job of breaking it down,” Carrawell said. “Our guys have done a heckuva job of buying into it. Defense for me is all about effort. You have your principles and what you want to do on that end of the floor.

“But if you just give one effort, that’s not good enough, We’ve been a team with multiple efforts.”

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Here’s what to know ahead of Thursday’s game:

Time: 3 p.m. (eastern).

Location: Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Portland, Ore.

TV: ESPN.

Announcers: Doug Sherman (play-by-play) and Cory Alexander (analyst).

Series; last meeting: Duke leads 2-0; Duke won 85-63 in 1963, which was the third-place game of the NCAA tournament.

Records: Duke 4-1; Oregon State 3-1.

Stat to watch: 115.5 | 104.8.

The first number is Duke’s offensive efficiency, which is seventh in the country entering Thursday’s games; the second is Oregon’s defensive efficiency, which is 245th.

Duke is an elite offensive team without Dereck Lively II and Dariq Whitehead up to full speed yet, and Oregon State is hardly a team that locks down opponents.

The Blue Devils’ best strength has been offensive rebounding — they rebound 45.9% of their misses, which is second in the country. That’s helped Duke outrebound all five opponents this season by double-digits, which matches a program record at any point in a season (it’s happened four previous times, most recently in the 2017-18 season).

The Beavers are 3-1 without playing a power conference team yet, and that matches their win total from last season. After reaching the Elite 8 as a 12-seed in 2021, Oregon State was 3-28 last season and ended the year on an 18-game losing streak.

Beaver to watch: Wing Glenn Taylor Jr. (No. 35).

Taylor finished his freshman campaign with a season-high 16 points on 6-for-8 shooting in the Pac-12 tournament.

He’s carried that performance into this season and taken his game to the next level.

The 6-6, 200-pounder from Las Vegas is coming off of a 25-point game against Portland State in which he was 6-for-8 from the field, and made 13 of 15 free throws. He’s also had games with 19 and 16 points this season, after scoring in double figures in five of the Beavers’ last seven games last season.

Blue Devil to watch: Forward Kyle Filipowski (No. 30).

If it’s possible for a top-5 recruit who’s a 7-footer to quietly lead a team like Duke in scoring … well, that feels like it’s what Filipowski is doing.

He’s the only Blue Devil to score in double figures in every game this season. His double-double streak to start the season ended at three, but he’s had 18 points and eight rebounds in each of the last two games. He’s also connected on 5 of 10 3-pointers in those last two games.

Filipowski might not be the Blue Devils’ most-important player (that’s still Jeremy Roach) and he might not remain the leading scorer (Whitehead is revving up). But Filipowski has already shown enough too extinguish offseason rumors of him being overmatched for the college game.

KenPom prediction: Duke wins 79-59.

Devils Illustrated prognosis: Duke shouldn’t be in too much danger in this game, as Oregon State hasn’t played a team with Duke’s length and athleticism this season (few teams have).

This becomes a stage-setting game for the Blue Devils; one in which they can open the tournament on a strong note and prepare for a better opponent in Friday’s game.