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Duke Blue Devils center Kyle Filipowski (30) Rob Kinnan-USA TODAY Sports

Duke men's basketball will continue to rely on 'tough' sophomore duo

By Max Rego | Last updated 2/13/24

Duke may be the No. 9 team in the country, but its toughness has been questioned all season. On Monday, Mark Mitchell and Kyle Filipowski responded to those queries with authority.

In the Blue Devils’ 77-69 home win over Wake Forest, their starting frontcourt duo paved the way, combining for 44 points and 19 rebounds. Against an in-state rival that head coach Jon Scheyer deemed “a big-time team” to reporters after the game, Mitchell and Filipowski’s efforts were sorely needed.

At the half, Duke led by two, but its offense was out of sorts. The Blue Devils shot 35.5% from the field in the opening 20 minutes, and just 21.4% from three.

Coming out of the locker room, though, the sophomore tandem went to work inside, accounting for 27 of Duke's 48 second-half points. For the period, the Blue Devils shot a whopping 62.5% from the floor, a mark that can be credited in part to Mitchell and Filipowski playing through contact and finishing inside.

“I thought Mark and Kyle were men. I thought they were really tough tonight,” Scheyer said. “And these guys, anybody who doubts their toughness, what they're about, they don't know Mark Mitchell, they don't know Kyle Filipowski. Those guys were just men tonight.”

Got up with Mark & Flip after the home dub over Wake pic.twitter.com/83GBBqhfEH
— Duke Men’s Basketball (@DukeMBB) February 13, 2024

Given how Scheyer has constructed this roster, Duke has not had to worry about guard production. On any given night, Roach, Jared McCain, Tyrese Proctor or Caleb Foster can step up, and all four bring a unique skill set to the table. Roach and Foster can get to their spots, Proctor can attack off screens and McCain can make you pay from outside and off the dribble.

Scheyer does not quite have the same luxury when it comes to his frontcourt, though. Sure, freshman Sean Stewart is coming into his own, carving out a role via his athleticism and motor. Old-school big Ryan Young is dependable and can be a true asset against teams that force the Blue Devils into a slog.

But Duke’s ability to keep up with opposing teams inside starts with Mitchell and Filipowski. In the win over Wake Forest, the duo delivered.
How they delivered provides Scheyer with a blueprint going forward. Time after time in the second stanza, the Blue Devils opted for an empty-side ball screen, with either Mitchell or Filipowski as the screener — with the other either cutting or spotting up.

That put Demon Deacon bigs Efton Reid III, Andrew Carr and Matthew Marsh (depending on who was covering whichever one of Mitchell or Filipowski wasn’t screening) in a bind: help off your man — and open up a passing lane — or allow the roller to attack the rim.

“Duke did a great job of adjusting to our ball screen coverages, we were blitzing the sides and [Scheyer] went to naked pick-and-roll in the second half,” Wake Forest head coach Steve Forbes told reporters after the contest.

After Wake Forest-Duke, Steve Forbes opened his post-game comments talking about this sequence/adjustment from Jon Scheyer — Duke empty-side ball screens, and Kyle Filipowski + Mark Mitchell attacking the space https://t.co/bqoaEbsHoj pic.twitter.com/sBvMteRtFR
— Brian Geisinger (@bgeis_bird) February 13, 2024

Going forward, against teams that defend ball screens aggressively, Scheyer can keep hammering that same action. After Mitchell and Filipowski executed the plan brilliantly in Cameron Indoor Stadium on Monday, the second-year head coach should be confident in their ability to keep it up.

If they do, look for Duke to kick it into another gear, starting with Saturday's road date with Florida State.

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