Duke basketball freshman Isaiah Evans didn't play a single minute against Kentucky, Arizona, or Kansas. There was confusion as to why the #15 overall recruit in the 2024 class wasn't seeing any serious minutes in big games, but that changed tonight.
Evans is an absolute sharpshooter and gave the Blue Devils the offensive spark the team needed after Duke went down 13-3 to begin the game.
As soon as Evans entered the game, he changed the momentum. Immediately getting action run for him for perimeter shots, Evans hit his first three three point shots of the game, absolutely lighting up Cameron Indoor.
He kept it going for the rest of the half, finishing 6-of-8 from three for a game-high 18 points on the night, pushing the Blue Devils over the Tigers as the half came to a close.
Evans is showing in a big time way why he deserves to play serious minutes for Jon Scheyer, but he wasn't the only reason for Duke's success.
The Blue Devils fell into a 13-3 deficit early in the game, but the defense settled in and immediately got Duke back in the game.
Maliq Brown has completely shut down National Player of the Year frontrunner Johni Broome to just 5 points. Brown has been everywhere defensively and arguably been the MVP for Duke besides Evans.
It feels like the Duke lead should be bigger as the team controlled for the final 12 minutes of the half. Auburn has been lights out from three point range, 7-of-15 as a team, keeping Auburn's deficit at a reasonable margin.
Sion James started in place of Caleb Foster tonight, who's struggled early in the year, and Foster seemed to take that to heart with probably his best offensive half of the year tonight.
Foster sits with 9 points on 3-of-5 shooting and hit a big three as the half drew to a close.
This is certainly the biggest half of the season for Duke basketball. After falling to the only two currently ranked teams it's played, the program needs a signature win as it's further being proven that the ACC is incredibly weak this year.
The SEC/ACC challenge is going on right now, and SEC teams have won 11 of the first 12 matchups. If the Blue Devils can continue to defend well and limit Broome's chances in the paint, the program will put itself in prime position to pick up a massive win over the #2 team in the land.