Duke basketball planning to ‘make some changes’ after latest loss

The Duke basketball team is going to ‘make some changes’ after its latest disappointment. 

After a week of very disappointing efforts and outcomes for the Duke basketball team, Jon Scheyer is looking to make some changes.

The Blue Devils fell 80-75 against Arkansas and 72-68 against Georgia Tech last week — both games coming on the road — but it was the manner in which the team looked uninterested and unprepared at times that was the most concerning.

It was the first team for the team since its split back-to-back games against Arizona and Michigan State to begin the season.

“As a coaching staff, there are some things we have to look at and probably make some changes,” Scheyer said after the loss in Atlanta on Saturday.

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He already tried to make one change entering the contest by bringing sophomore forward Mark Mitchell off the bench and starting veteran center Ryan Young. The move also allowed Kyle Filipowski to start at power forward, his more natural position than center.

However, the move didn’t last long after Tyrese Proctor went down in the first two minutes with an ankle injury that kept him out the rest of the game and left the arena on crutches.

Mitchell still ended up playing 28 minutes in the loss compared to Young’s 12 minutes.

Duke basketball still has many changes to make

There are still more changes that have to be made with the rotation — like playing TJ Power and Sean Stewart more — but it feels like the bulk of the adjustments have to be made within the team’s halfcourt offense that sees primarily two players, Jeremy Roach and Kyle Filipowski, engage in a pick-and-roll with the rest of the players standing and watching around the perimeter.

Duke gets a week off before hosting Charlotte on Saturday afternoon but there is no comfort in beating a lower tier mid-major after how the team performed in its last two games.

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Hofstra, a quality mid-major that is known to spring massive road upsets, awaits later in the week as well as a trip to New York City to play No. 6 Baylor on December 20.

Jon Scheyer has his work cut for him and there is a growing restlessness among the Duke faithful if the second year head coach can figure things out with a team that had National Championship aspirations.