Jon Scheyer believes Kon Knueppel likely 'pissed at himself' despite strong Duke debut

Kon Knueppel led the team in scoring last night in his debut as a Blue Devil. Even so, Jon Scheyer knows that the performance probably didn’t please the freshman for some reason or another.

Scheyer spoke about Knueppel’s mindset after his first collegiate outing in the 96-62 win for No. 7 Duke over Maine on Monday. He assured the media postgame that, despite his success in the season opener, what he did probably displeased him to some extent.

“Even tonight, I guarantee you Kon is pissed at himself because there’s something that he could have done better,” said Scheyer. “It’s just – it’s how he’s wired.”

Knueppel scored 22 points as the team’s leader in minutes and scoring during the opener against the Black Bears. He did so efficiently on 8-14 (57.1%) shooting from the field and at 3-8 (37.5%) from three. He also totaled four rebounds, two assists, and a steal in the victory.

With that, Scheyer loves that Knueppel and Cooper Flagg, Duke’s most-hyped freshmen of their six-commitment class, both think that way about their games. Neither Knueppel nor Flagg are worried about anything else but playing at their best and doing so for their team.

“You know, the rare thing for both of those guys? I don’t know if they see much. You know, I really don’t,” said Scheyer. “Like, they’re the same way. They’ve been the same way since day one since they got here until game one right now. Hopefully they continue that. But they don’t get into articles and mock drafts. They’re about the work.”

“They have great humility and they play for the right reasons. It’s not for the attention. It’s because they love it,” Scheyer continued. “They love Duke, they want to be a part of a really good team. That’s unique.”

While he may have had issue with it himself, Knueppel’s first college game went very well for the freshman. If he disliked it too much, though, he’ll get another chance to improve on it later this week when Duke hosts Army on Friday.