Duke basketball sits at 10-2 on the season, most recently picking up its second ACC win at Georgia Tech 82-56. It was one of the best games the Blue Devils have played all year collectively and head coach Jon Scheyer certainly noticed it.
In his postgame press conference alongside Duke freshman Kon Knueppel, Scheyer highlighted how Knueppel has continued to work despite a slump.
Knueppel came into the season expected to be one of the best shooters in the ACC and has certainly showed flashes of that at times. As of late however, Knueppel hasn't been at his best on a consistent basis.
Knueppel had one of his best shooting performances of the season against the Yellow Jackets, knocking down 4 of his 8 three point attempts and finishing with a game-high 18 points.
It was a much needed day for the freshman who was dealing with a lot of trouble knocking down shots in Duke's recent games before the win at Georgia Tech.
In the four games prior to the one against the Yellow Jackets, Knueppel shot a combined 4-of-18 (22.2%) from the perimeter.
"It was definitely probably the worst slump of my life," Knueppel said postgame. "So, it was a rough couple of games but, you know trying to find ways to affect the game in other ways, and, I just felt like I was making a couple shots here and there but, you can't worry about them. I thought last game I was worrying about it a little too much, but you just got to have the 'next play' mentality and be tough that way."
Coming off this strong shooting night and heading into a bit of a break for the holidays, hopefully Knueppel can come back into game action and keep his shooting momentum flowing.
Scheyer began his presser giving praise to Knueppel for coming out hard after dealing with struggles, and talked about how great of a lesson as a freshman it is to learn to come out of a slump like that.
"It's such a great lesson, I think, for any freshman, any young player. He's played well, he just hasn't hit shots he normally does. And, it drove him nuts a little bit, but he's worked his butt off, he makes others better, he's tough, he rebounds, and at some point the shooting is just going to come with it."
There's no doubt that Knueppel has as good of shooting ability as anyone on this year's Duke team, he just has to find the consistency. Coming off one of his best games of his young career, Scheyer and the rest of the staff hope he can keep it going.
Duke returns home next for a date with the 5-7 Virginia Tech Hokies on New Year's Eve (4:30pm ET, ACC Network).