On a team loaded with veterans and in a freshman class packed with future NBA superstars, it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle.
As Duke has moved through the season, the focus has been on the Final Four and national title, which often means that a team sets aside the individual development of the guys that don’t play much.
Still, while Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel and Khaman Maluach have been fixtures in the starting lineup and on the scorer’s sheet, the other half of the freshman class has turned into key contributors.
Don’t fear the reaper
Isaiah Evans is known as the Slim Reaper, due to his combination of less-than-imposing bulk and a deadly shot. He struggled to pick up Duke’s switching defense early in the year, which limited his playing time, but he’s gradually worked his way into the rotation, including scoring 69 points in a four-game stretch late in the year.
“You talk about Isaiah, he had one of the best plays of the ACC Tournament when he anticipated a steal, ripped it out of one of the Carolina players’ hands, and then he dove on the floor, but without hesitation,” said coach Jon Scheyer. “Isaiah and I have had a lot of amazing conversations since he’s been here. I think he’s misunderstood to some degree because he’s — man, he’s all about the right things. He’s a big time competitor. He’s an amazing teammate. But to see his game progress — shooting and scoring, it’s not like we made him a good shooter when he got here. That’s something he could already do.
“But his willingness and want to become a complete player has been awesome to coach. So that play, diving on the floor, we’re up in that game, and just his emotion and understanding how important that was, I was really proud of him. He’s been in some crucial moments for us, made some big time shots, but his whole game has progressed because he works on it, he takes coaching, and he has the great balance of being very confident in his ability, but also having great humility and being very objective with analyzing what he can do better and needs to do better. I’ve loved, loved coaching Isaiah Evans, man. He’s been awesome.”
Creating depth in the post
Patrick Ngongba played a total of 35 minutes in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. Why is that significant? Because he played a total of 23 in all of November, 28 in December. He got off the bench just three times in Duke’s first 11 games. After scoring 64 points in the regular season, Ngongba has scored 52 in the ACC and NCAA Tournaments, giving Duke a reliable back-up in the post, especially as Maliq Brown battles a shoulder injury.
“Man, I could talk all day about Pat and the process that he’s going through,” Jon Scheyer said. “He came this summer, and he couldn’t even practice because he had pain in his feet. I just want to give our medical team a shout-out because they’ve done an incredible job. We put the brakes on with him to make sure — it wasn’t purposeful to do anything basketball-wise if he couldn’t feel no pain and to move properly, so we worked on his body. Pat really just worked like crazy to get back healthy. He didn’t play as much. We had a good thing going. Then he just slowly progressed. He works his butt off every day. He’s given us huge minutes. He’s great feel. He’s tough. He’s got great defensive instincts to protect the rim and guard in pick-and-roll. And his skill set is going to continue to blossom and be a really special guy for us going forward.”
In case of emergency
Darren Harris hasn’t gotten as much playing time as the rest of the class, but he hasn’t sulked or phoned in the season, waiting to hit the portal in search of a better situation. Instead, he’s stayed ready. And, in a tough conference game at Florida State, he had his chance.
“Darren didn’t have his number called (all year),” said Jon Scheyer. “He comes in against Florida State.”
With Cooper Flagg out with an injury, Harris came in and hit three shots from the field, grabbed four rebounds and added an assist and a steal.
“You know what? For me, it starts with his attitude,” said Scheyer afterward. “Darren has been – I think it’s a fine line. You don’t want somebody to be content with not playing. That’s not what I want. But you also want them to understand it’s a process and attack the areas of how to get better every day. Darren’s been an awesome guy to coach. You guys don’t get a chance to see it all the time, but I do, and we do as a staff, and the work he does every day – he’s working on his defense, he’s working on every aspect of his game. I talked to him a couple days ago and just told him, ‘Listen, you keep coming on with what you’re doing. Be ready to go. Don’t be surprised if you hear your name called.’ I just love this competitiveness. He’s got great competitiveness, he’s got a great feel. He’s going to be a really good player for us. I was happy for him that he could have that moment tonight.”
