Potent five-star freshman Isaiah Evans and top-tier four-star rookie guard Darren Harris remained on the Duke basketball bench throughout the No. 6-ranked Blue Devils’ 77-72 defeat at the hands of the No. 19-ranked Kentucky Wildcats in Atlanta’s State Farm Arena on Tuesday night.
The same goes for five-star newcomer Patrick Ngongba II. Of course, the first-year college center’s absence came as no surprise in light of the fact that blueblood battle marked the first time he was available to compete as a Blue Devil following his recovery from setbacks in the foot department.
Double-digit Kentucky players saw action against Duke. And there’s zero doubt the Wildcats enjoyed their fresher-legs advantage down the stretch.
Even so, fresh off Saturday’s bounceback blowout, in which Evans, Harris, Ngongba, and the eight who saw action in the Kentucky game each played at least nine minutes against the outmatched Wofford Terriers in Cameron Indoor Stadium, it would come as a complete shock if all of those Duke basketball players see the floor in the Blue Devils’ next contest, barring a lopsided score.
After all, the next contest is on the road against the No. 9 Arizona Wildcats at 10:30 p.m. ET Friday (ESPN2).
And after watching his seemingly deep cast of capable Blue Devils power an 86-35 victory over Wofford, third-year head coach Jon Scheyer suggested to the media that he doesn’t intend to call on all 11 in tightly contested matchups this season.
“We have 11 good players,” Scheyer noted. “But you can’t — or at least I’m not, or we’re not, gonna play…It’s hard to play 11 guys.
“So, finding out what that balance is — how deep can you go, who can be ready — it really comes down, a lot of it comes down, to defense and rebounding. A lot of it comes down to fit and how to support Cooper [Flagg], how to help Kon [Knueppel] and these other guys.
“But I’m looking, and I’m well aware: just because we start a certain way or play a certain way now doesn’t mean it’s gonna end up that way. Like, this is a long process of how we have to grow throughout the season.”
