It wasn't the Duke debut that John Blackwell envisioned when he committed to the Blue Devils out of the Transfer Portal from Wisconsin.
Sure, the most important box was checked: Duke earned a 34-point win. And at the end of the day, Blackwell transferred to Duke to have a chance to win and win big.
But from a personal standpoint, the first game that counted in Blackwell's Blue Devils career was one to forget.
The All-Big Ten honorable-mention guard from a year ago scored just 3 points on 1-of-6 from the floor with 4 turnovers. He couldn't buy a basket for most of the evening, finally seeing a three-pointer go down with just eight minutes remaining in the game for his first and only points. Blackwell going scoreless for the first 32 minutes last night was not on anyone's Bingo card.
Blackwell looked like he was pressing from the outset, which led to some uncharacteristic turnovers and rushed shots. It's the type of performance you just flush and don't think about again moving forward.
Better nights are ahead for the Wisconsin transfer. Why? Because he took that poor performance personally, and he got straight back to work. Right after the game, Blackwell was back out on Coach K court getting shots up:
12 seconds of John Blackwell getting shots up after tonight's game.
— Conor O'Neill (@ConorONeill_DI) November 3, 2026
Rough one -- 3 points on 1-for-6 -- for the senior in his official Duke debut. pic.twitter.com/iOg0Fe7Nk9
John Blackwell will bounce back from his forgettable Duke debut
There's really no reason to worry about one bad night. We saw Blackwell thrive with the Blue Devils during the three exhibition games. He's also a proven player at this level. He averaged 19 points per game last season at Wisconsin while shooting 39% from three. He's not going to have a ton of nights where he shoots that poorly.
It's best to get that kind of performance out of the way early, too. I'm sure Blackwell had some jitters for his first regular-season game at Cameron Indoor. He wasn't the only one. Jon Scheyer talked about the burden of expectations and how the Blue Devils got away from being themselves against Army.
Scheyer will get that sorted out. And Blackwell will settle in and look like the star guard Duke knew it was getting out of the Transfer Portal. He's going to bounce back in a big way, and quickly.
I would expect Blackwell to be ultra aggressive and to play with a chip on his shoulder on Thursday when Duke is back at Cameron Indoor to take on Coastal Carolina.
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