Hurricanes blown away. Three takeaways from No. 3 Duke's 11th win in a row, a rout of Miami.

Steve Wiseman, The News & Observer on Jan 14, 2025

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DURHAM, N.C. — Duke’s dead-eye 3-point shooting made for a easy ACC win over the league’s worst team on Tuesday night.

Led by Kon Knueppel’s season-high 25 points, aided by six 3-pointers, helped the No. 3 Blue Devils build a 24-point halftime lead and roll to a 89-54 win over Miami at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Duke (15-2, 7-0 ACC) won its 11th consecutive game, its longest winning streak since the 2017-18 season. The Blue Devils hit 17 of 32 3-pointers (53.1%) to keep the Hurricanes (4-13, 0-6 ACC) in last place in the league standings.

Cooper Flagg, in his first game since setting the ACC freshman record with 42 points when Duke beat Notre Dame, 86-78, on Saturday, scored 13 points with seven rebounds and a team-best six assists against Miami.

Khaman Maluach scored 12 points with 15 rebounds, his second game in a row reaching double figures in scoring and rebounding for the Blue Devils.

Mason Gillis added 12 points, on four 3-pointers, for Duke.

Knueppel scored 18 points in the first half, making four of his 3-pointers, as Duke took a 50-26 lead to intermission.

Led by interim coach Bill Courtney following Jim Larranaga’s retirement as head coach last month, Miami lost for the 13th time in its last 14 games.

Here are three takeaways from Duke’s latest win:

Duke’s adjustments without Maliq Brown

An important player in Duke’s defensive schemes, 6-9 junior forward Maliq Brown was not in uniform after he sprained his right knee during Saturday’s 86-78 win over Notre Dame. Duke coach Jon Scheyer has said Brown will be sidelined for “several weeks” while the injury heals.

Prior to Tuesday night, Brown was the first player off Duke’s bench to enter the game in all but one Duke game. That exception was the Blue Devils’ 72-46 win over Incarnate Word on Dec. 10 when Brown was sidelined with a toe injury.

With Brown unavailable, Maluach stayed in the game until the 13:45 mark of the first half. That’s when freshman center Patrick Ngongba entered the game to give Maluach a rest. The 6-11 Ngongba played for the next 5:44, notable because the most he’d played in any ACC game previously this season was six minutes.

Ngongba played a season-high 18 minutes, scoring four points with five rebounds. Maluach played 20 minutes.

Blue Devils are cooking on offense

By shooting 54.8% against Miami, Duke has now shot 50% or better from the field in six consecutive games. All six of those games have come against ACC opponents, starting with Duke’s season-best 56.4% in an 82-56 win at Georgia Tech on Dec. 21.

The Blue Devils hit 14 of their first 23 shots against the Hurricanes while opening a 42-17 lead. Duke finished the first half at 61.3%, showing its connectivity on offense by recording 17 assists on 19 first-half baskets.

The Blue Devils finished the game with 25 assists on 34 baskets.

Duke defense back on track

Despite not having Brown, the Blue Devils defense returned to its normal suffocating style against the struggling Hurricanes.

Despite winning on Saturday, Duke saw Notre Dame shoot 47.4% to become just the fourth team to shoot 40% or better against the Blue Devils this season.

Miami kept tossing up air ball after air ball on Tuesday night, finishing at 39%. The Hurricanes were particularly horrid on 3-point shooting, making only 6 of 20. Miami entered the game No. 259 nationally in 3-point shooting at 31.7% for the season, so its performance against Duke will only drop it further in those rankings.

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