Jon Scheyer believes 2023-24 Duke team has ‘killer instinct’

No. 9 Duke cruised to an 80-65 victory over Boston College at home on Saturday, outscoring the Eagles by 11 points in the second half to secure their ninth ACC victory of the season.

The Blue Devils were neck and neck with BC for the entire first half, but Duke was relentless in their pursuit of victory and dropped 44 points during the final 20-minute stretch.

“Tonight, they showed that they have a killer instinct,” head coach Jon Scheyer said postgame. “That could have easily been a one-possession game. When you have a killer instinct, that doesn’t mean you don’t make mistakes or don’t miss a couple of shots. Their mentality, it was close to a 40-minute game. I didn’t like the middle of the first half.

“Besides that, we played played our butts off. They have a killer instinct, and they just keep coming at you. Anytime they’ve gotten knocked back, they respond. They stuck together.”

All five of Duke’s starters would go on to score in double figures during Saturday’s win. Mark Mitchell led the way with a team-high 17 points while preseason All-American Kyle Filipowski and veteran guard Jeremy Roach scored 16 a piece against the Eagles. Jared McCain notched an 11-point, 10-rebound double-double during the contest as well. Tyrese Proctor rounded out the starting lineup with 10 points as well.

Mitchell’s big night, along with a steady offensive performance from the rest of Duke’s starting lineup in recent games has Scheyer confident they don’t need to rely on Filipowski, and can take the load off of the projected NBA lottery pick on both sides of the ball whenever necessary.

“We have everything we need. We have a very different team than earlier in the season,” Scheyer continued. “We are a hard team to match up with. We’ve seen a lot of different defenses already. We’re closer, but we’re not a final product.”

Scheyer will hope his Blue Devils will continue on that path when Duke takes on Wake Forest on Monday night at home. Tip-off from inside Cameron Indoor Stadium is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET live on ESPN.

Despite the 48-hour turnaround between games, the Blue Devils are 7.5-point betting favorites heading into the opening tip, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. ESPN analysts gives Duke a 77.8 percent chance of defeating the Demon Deacons, while KenPom predicts a final score of 79-73 in the Blue Devil’s favor.