Duke dominates Miami to go 25-3

Another injury, another vigil.

Nobody was surprised that Duke ran their record to 25-3 with a 97-60 win over Miami Tuesday night. The Hurricanes are really that bad.

No one should have been surprised that Duke hit 15 of 25 from beyond the arc. Of all the things Miami is bad at, defending the 3 might be at the top of the list.

Or bottom of the list.

And maybe we shouldn’t be surprised that Duke suffered another injury. It seems to be a late-season thing.

And yes, it happens in the best of families. Miami was missing Matthew Cleveland, their best player. He has a leg injury.

Tyrese Proctor went down late in the first half with a knee injury and didn’t return.

I won’t even pretend to guess. When Sion James injured a shoulder against Kentucky, I thought he would miss a couple of weeks.

He was back the next game.

When Maliq Brown injured a knee against Notre Dame--the second of his three injuries this season--I thought he would be back soon.

Wrong again.

Anyway. Back to the game. Kon Knueppel and Cooper Flagg staked Duke to a 6-0 lead with a couple of triples. A Flagg layup made it 15-2.

Miami stabilized a kept the lead in the low double-digit range for the rest of the half despite an Isaiah Evans barrage which saw him come off the bench and score 10 points in less than two minutes.

In the words of the poet, when you’re hot, you’re hot.

“There is no real thought process,” Evans said. “When you shoot so many jumpers, it’s automatic.”

Of course, when you’re not, you’re not. All 16 of his points came in the first half.

Not that Duke needed him in the second half, even with Proctor out. Duke led 47-32 at intermission and blew any Miami resistance to smithereens with an 18-4 run to start the second half, two 3-pointers by Knueppel keying the run.

After that it was just a matter of margin. And staying healthy. Scheyer pulled his key players pretty early but Duke’s reserves may be better than Miami’s starters. Even Cam Sheffield got into the act, with a 3-pointer his first points in a Duke uniform.

Still, some of those bench minutes could turn out to be important, depending on the severity of Proctor’s injury. Caleb Foster got in early and was solid, with 10 points and three assists. Darren Harris played nine minutes but didn’t do much. Mason Gillis (six points, three rebounds) and Patrick Ngongba (nine points, four rebounds) did do much.

The starters?Knueppel had 20 points and five rebounds, 4 of 5 from downtown.

Flagg only played 27 minutes but had 16 points, five rebounds and six assists.

He’s been a bit of a point forward from day one but may have to become even more of one..

Proctor had seven points before taking a seat and looked like he was on the way to a big game.

Duke hit 56% from the field, 90% from the foul line (18-20) and had 20 assists to 10 turnovers.

The Blue Devils’ prolific offense has scored at least 97 points in three of its last four games, the exception that 80-62 win at slow-paced Virginia.

Miami did outrebound Duke 30-28, mostly due to 11 offensive rebounds in the first half. But they turned it over 20 times and hit 5 for 25 from 3-point land.

Scheyer called it a “workmanlike performance” but went on to praise his young team for maintaining its focus.

“For freshmen, they just have such a maturity and a serious approach. It’s really fun to coach these guys because of that.”

Duke is now 16-1 in the ACC, with home games against Florida State and Wake Forest next on the agenda.

“I love the killer instinct this team has had,” Scheyer summed up. “I love the approach to each game. They haven’t big-timed anything. We know what’s ahead. We know the battles we’re going to be in.”

All we know about Proctor right now is testing awaits upon the team’s return to Durham, then the waiting-is-the-hardest-part begins. Fingers crossed that he and Brown will be a part of those battles to come.