Preview: UMES at No. 15 Duke

As is normal in any changing of the guard, there are certain things to point out that are different from Mike Krzyzewski to Jon Scheyer.

And then there are the times that Scheyer says things that, if you close your eyes and imagine the voice of his predecessor, you’d swear it was the man who coached Duke’s basketball team to 1,202 wins; not the one who’s 9-2 in his first season.

“We’ve been through a really tough stretch these last couple of weeks,” Scheyer said after Duke beat Iowa in New York earlier this week. “… We’ve had not much practice time. That’s something I’m really looking forward to, the practice time building in our offense.”

One more game — Saturday’s tilt against Maryland Eastern Shore — stands between the Blue Devils and their first significant break of the season.

Since the season started on Nov. 7, and through Saturday’s game, Duke will have played 12 games in 34 days. Seven of those games will have been in Cameron Indoor Stadium, while the others have sent the Blue Devils to Indianapolis, Portland, Ore., and New York.

Duke’s longest break between games has been three days. After the Blue Devils play UMES, they’ll go nine days before playing again — with the first road game coming Dec. 20 at Wake Forest.

After that game, it'll be a 10-day layover through Christmas until a New Year's Eve matchup against Florida State.

**********

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

Time: 5:30 p.m.

Location: Cameron Indoor Stadium.

TV: ACC Network.

Series; last meeting: First meeting.

Records: UMES 3-6; Duke 9-2.

Stat to watch: 92.1 | 91.0.

The first number is UMES’ offensive efficiency, which ranks 348th in the country; the second is Duke’s defensive efficiency, which ranks 23rd in the country. (both per KenPom entering Thursday night’s games)

Duke can’t sleepwalk through this one — but the Blue Devils have faced tougher non-conference matchups this season than the Hawks will present.

UMES has scored at least 70 points once, and one of those was against Bryn Athyn — not a Tolkien character, but a Division III school in Pennsylvania. The Hawks have played one other power conference team, and that was a 72-45 loss to Virginia.

Duke’s defense has been the Blue Devils’ backbone this season and there are no signs of that halting anytime soon. The 91.3 defensive efficiency rating for Duke in Tuesday night’s 74-62 win over Iowa was the Blue Devils’ best mark since the fourth game of the season, against Delaware — and came against an Iowa team that’s still in the top 10 of offensive efficiency.

“It’s exciting, because for this young of a group and a young team, in terms of having that experience playing together, that’s what it comes down to in March,” coach Jon Scheyer said. “You need to get stops.

“I think our offense will just continue to develop throughout the course of the season. … But the defense is the base of who we are.”

Matchup to watch: UMES’ lack of size vs. Duke’s frontcourt.

Duke is going to present matchup problems for some power conference teams and most non-conference teams, but this one feels like the most lopsided of the season.

UMES’ tallest player is freshman Victory Naboya, at 6-8. He’s played 30 minutes in nine games and hasn’t scored against a Division I team.

Next in height are 6-7 forwards Kohen Thompson and Troy Hupstead, playing 50% and 20% of UMES’ minutes, respectively.

Duke’s offensive rebounding clip has been under 30% in four of the last five games and it seems likely the Blue Devils can dominate inside against UMES.

Hawk to watch: Guard Zion Styles (No. 3).

UMES is an offensively challenged team and Styles is one of two players averaging double figures; his 11.1 average trails Kevon Voyles’ 11.3, but Voyles has only played the last three games.

Styles was the Hawks’ second-leading scorer last season. He’s a 6-3, 199-pounder who’s made 10 of 21 3-pointers this season after making 16 of 53 all of last year.

The Uniondale, N.Y., native played two seasons at Monroe College, a junior college in New York. Other Hawks were picked to the preseason MEAC second- and third-team — senior guard Da’Shawn Phillip and graduate forward Nathaniel Pollard Jr., respectively — but Styles has been UMES’ most-consistent threat.

Blue Devil to watch: Forward Mark Mitchell (No. 25).

Mitchell has scored in double figures in back-to-back games for the first time since Duke’s first two games of the season. The 6-8 freshman scored 15 against Boston College (13 in the second half) and followed it up with 17 points against Iowa (again, 13 in the second half).

The work Mitchell did against Iowa’s Kris Murray on the defensive end was the most-important part of Duke’s win on Tuesday night; his offensive surge is not to be overlooked, though.

“He’s Easy. That’s why they call him Easy,” Scheyer said of his freshman forward. “I thought he showed a lot of grit (Tuesday) night. … His offense, I think his confidence has just grown so much from the summer until now.”

Mitchell has put together two of his best offensive games of the season on the heels of two of his worst. Against Purdue and Ohio State, Mitchell had a combined five points on 2-for-9 shooting. He also had five rebounds, two assists and four turnovers in those games; in the last two, he’s had a combined eight rebounds, two assists, two turnovers and two blocks.

KenPom prediction: Duke wins 80-53.

Devils Illustrated prognosis: The point has been made, that Duke can’t simply show up to win this game.

But everything about this matchup feels like it’s Duke’s last chance to tinker with lineups against an overmatched opponent (though the Blue Devils play host to Louisville in late February).

It’s one more chance for Dariq Whitehead to keep progressing; one more for Dereck Lively II to play defense without fouling. Guys like Tyrese Proctor and Mitchell, coming along strong lately, can put together one more strong performance going into Duke’s exams break.

Once Duke enters cruise control on a presumed blowout, then the real work begins to start building into a 10-day break between games.