Jon Scheyer explains how Duke capitalized on difficult start to season
Jon Scheyer has not shied away from Duke‘s early season losses. Instead, his team has learned from their mistakes and is using their poor start to the year to play their best basketball of the season right now.
Losing three games within the first four weeks of the season, Duke was in jeopardy of falling out of the AP Top 25 Poll and had Blue Devil faithful worried about the future of the program. After rattling off eight consecutive victories — Scheyer explained why the non-conference schedule was tougher to watch than usual.
“Our schedule was unique this year for the first eight games because you’re usually not playing on the road and in-conference so early,” Scheyer said after defeating Georgia Tech 84-79. “We’re playing for the first time in the SEC Challenge. We played the game against Arizona and we always play in the Champions Classic. You’re playing some big-time games early, and I think more was brought to the light earlier for us.
“So when that happens, you can either make excuses or point the finger. You can say it’s somebody else’s fault or just an anomaly. You can say whatever you want — but there wasn’t one person in the program that didn’t take responsibility, me included, by the way.”
That schedule saw Duke face off against Arizona during the second game of the season — which they lost 78-73 inside Cameron Indoor Stadium — before turning around to play Michigan State four days later in the Champions Classic.
By the end of November, they had already suffered their second loss of the season having fallen to Arkansas in the ACC/SEC Challenge on the road in one of the most hostile environments in the SEC.
The Blue Devils started December by losing to Georgia Tech on the road — a rare conference matchup for that time of year, as the main portion of ACC play begins in January. Duke avenged that loss with an 84-79 win over the Yellow Jackets on Saturday, but the original loss to GT saw Duke drop from No. 7 down to No. 22 in the AP Poll at the time.
Ever since, Duke has not lost. Aside from an eight-point win over a top-10 Baylor team around the holidays, the Blue Devils blew out the rest of their non-conference opponents and are 4-0 in conference play since the start of the 2024 calendar year.
Those losses have turned into teachable moments for Duke this season, according to Scheyer. They’ve since learned how to right the wrongs of their early-season woes and are well on their way to being ranked in the top 10 once again after the litany of ranked losses this week.
“I told the team in preparation for this game, watching [these games] back, I could have coached you better, those guys could have played better,” Scheyer continued. “We could have all done a lot better collectively. Now, we’re just a different team.”
Next up for Duke is a home stand against Pitt on Saturday, whom the Blue Devils recently defeated 75-53 on the road.