Jon Scheyer reveals Duke strategy that took down Alabama
03/30/2025 01:10 AM
Duke basketball eliminated the last remaining 2024 Final Four representative by thrashing Alabama 85-65. The Blue Devils played a relentless brand that wore down the Crimson Tide Saturday. What strategy did head coach Jon Scheyer masterfully roll out in this March Madness trouncing?
Duke and Scheyer faced a team that went scorched earth behind the three-point line against BYU. Alabama nailed 25 shots from three-point land to trounce BYU in the Sweet 16 round. That mark made NCAA Tournament history. Alabama, however, hit brick after brick at Newark, New Jersey.
Silencing Alabama’s three-game is a hard feat for any team. Scheyer shared with Andy Katz of TBS Sports how Duke pulled it off defensively.
“Obviously, the 25 threes really scare you. But we want to paint the picture with our team that there’s three main guys who get a lot of threes,” Scheyer said before pointing out Mark Sears, Chris Youngblood and Aden Holloway.
Scheyer then dove into the area that came through for Duke in sparking the 20-point romp.
“For us, we’re at our best at protecting our paint and making a lot of our threes from spray outs. I thought we did a great job with controlling the ball, keeping them out of the paint as much as you can, and our guys were disciplined the whole way,” Scheyer said.
Duke’s defense rises to this Alabama challenge
Duke made Alabama look like a shell of its Thursday self on the three-point shooting side.
The Crimson Tide only hit eight threes out of 32 attempts. Sears and Youngblood struggled — settling for 1-of-5 from behind the arc. Holloway delivered 1-of-6.
Labaron Philon wound up as the top sharpshooter for ‘Bama. But he went 3-of-6 from behind the arc.
Furthermore, Scheyer and Duke held Alabama to its lowest scoring output of the season. Even the Blue Devils controlled top post presence Grant Nelson and held him to 10 points.
The Blue Devils blocked three total shot attempts with Khaman Maluach leading the way with two. Cooper Flagg blocked one attempt too. Duke snatched six steals as well — with Kon Knueppel grabbing three.
Duke improved to 35-3 overall. And for Scheyer, his masterful defensive tactics earns him his first Final Four appearance as Duke head coach.
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