Duke basketball's best defensive start in 76 years

Duke basketball defensive efforts are a sight to behold in the early going.

Duke basketball guard Jaylen Blakes (Rob Kinnan-USA TODAY Sports)

First-year Duke basketball head coach Jon Scheyer has made defense a focal point.

In their 84-38 home win over USC Upstate on Friday night, the defensive-minded Blue Devils scored 39 points off turnovers. Indeed, that's one more point than the visitors scored altogether, pretty much an unheard-of feat.

On Monday night, the No. 7 Blue Devils allowed only 44 points at home in their season-opening 27-point thumping of Jacksonville.

So Duke's two opponents thus far totaled 82 points, two fewer than the Blue Devils tallied in their latest outing alone. And according to a tweet from the official Duke basketball stats account, those 82 points mark the fewest any group of Blue Devils has allowed through two games in 76 years.

Of course, when the 1946-47 Blue Devils gave up only 72 points in their first two contests — a 44-29 win over High Point and a 44-43 win over Hanes Hosiery — the shot clock was still almost 40 years from making its debut in college basketball.

Sure, the early competition this year has been relatively weak. But at the same time, the Blue Devils' defensive effort has been substantial, as evident in the following clip of arguably the best sequence from Friday night:

Siri show me Duke Basketball pic.twitter.com/YQ9RvORkck

— Duke Men’s Basketball (@DukeMBB) November 12, 2022

Of the 14 Blue Devils who saw playing time against USC Upstate, all but four registered at least one steal. The team totaled 15 takeaways, led by graduate wing Jacob Grandison's game-high three.

Meanwhile, Duke came away with seven blocks, led by the two swats from freshman center Dereck Lively II, who played only 15 minutes in his Blue Devil debut after recovering from a preseason calf injury.

Now, a better test of the Blue Devils' prowess on that end of the floor awaits at 9:30 p.m. ET Tuesday when the squad faces No. 5 Kansas as part of the State Farm Champions Classic in Indianapolis. The defending national champion Jayhawks have averaged 85.5 points in their first two games, both wins of the blowout variety.

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"We've spent a lot of time on defense," Scheyer told the media after the showing against USC Upstate. "That has been our main focus, and I think we're in a good spot...I think we have the makings of being a good defensive team."

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