#9 Duke basketball has begun its season strong, getting out to a 7-2 record with wins over #2 Auburn and on the road at Louisville yesterday.
The Blue Devils have gotten it done with elite defense behind the #1 rated defense at KenPom so far through the 2024 campaign.
Duke was expected to be one of the best shooting teams in the nation with so many weapons that could hit outside of the perimeter.
The program has put the shooting ability on display, and is top 100 in the country in team three point shooting percentage, ranking 96th at 35.4%.
But, with the high rate Duke shoots threes, inconsistencies have been an issue in big games.
The team shot 4-of-24 (16.7%) against Kentucky and 8-of-30 (26.7%) yesterday in the win at Louisville.
Duke ranks 39th in the nation in percentage of points from the three point line (39.3%) and when they fall behind in that category, it's proven to hurt the Blue Devils offensively and land them in deficits.
Yesterday against the Cardinals, Louisville hit 8 first half threes and the Blue Devils struggled to get anything going in the paint.
Tyrese Proctor has been one of Duke's most reliable shooters from beyond the arc (43.4%) but the team is still looking for another sharpshooter to spread out the offense and create easy looks in the paint.
This is why freshman Kon Knueppel needs to step up.
Knueppel came to Duke with elite outside shooting ability and ESPN's Jonathan Givony even said Knueppel had the chance to be the best shooter in the ACC right from the season's start.
The freshman has shown his elite shooting ability, but has become much less of a factor on offense from beyond the arc in Duke's big games.
In Duke's "buy game" wins over Maine, Army, Wofford, and Seattle, Knueppel shot 12-of-22 from the three point line in those games combined (54.5%). Elite numbers.
Where the Blue Devils have missed his productivity is in their tough matchups to begin the season.
Against #1 Kansas, #2 Auburn, #4 Kentucky, and Arizona, Knueppel shot just 6-of-32 from beyond the arc combined (18.7%).
Knueppel has still impacted winning in a variety of ways in Duke's big games this season, but his lack of presence from the perimeter as a whole has put that much more pressure on the Blue Devil defense to keep themselves in the game.
With the immersion of fellow freshman Isaiah Evans, who hit 6 threes in the first half against Auburn after not seeing the court once against Kansas or Kentucky, it should take some pressure off of Knueppel when he's struggling to get it going if Evans' minutes continue to increase consistently.
If Duke can establish Knueppel as a shooting threat game in and game out, it will open up the potential for the Blue Devils offensively, maybe to a point where opponents have no game plan for the club.
With elite drivers like Cooper Flagg and Sion James along with a talented scoring cast like Proctor and Caleb Foster, an elite shooting threat to rely on every game is the one piece this offense is missing. Knueppel has the most potential, possibly along with Evans, to be that guy.
As conference play rolls around in a fairly weak ACC, Knueppel will have less pressure on him as Duke should be able to contain most of its opponents defensively through ACC play, but they're going to need him to heat up and become a more consistent factor.
It was prevalent after Louisville hit 8 threes in the first half yesterday to get out to a double-digit lead. Duke struggled mightily in the first half to get in the paint and also took a ton of threes, they just weren't falling at the rate of Louisville.
Knueppel is still a young freshman that has plenty of time to continue to develop, but Jon Scheyer and the rest of the staff need him to heat up consistently as the season rolls along from the perimeter to make this team a bonafide national championship contender.