“We’re In For a Long Season”: Duke Fans Point Out Team’s Glaring Problem Despite First Win vs Army
· Yahoo Sports
The No. 2 Duke Blue Devils may have started the 2026-27 men’s basketball season with a convincing 84-50 victory over Army on Monday night. However, their shooting woes raised concern among their fans.
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Duke struggled from beyond the arc, finishing 4-of-22 (18.2%) from the 3-point range against the Black Knights. The team missed all nine of its first-half attempts from deep before finally finding some success after halftime. Mid-range and paint shooting helped them earn the win against Army.
Duke fans raised concerns over the glaring shooting problem from the perimeter.
“If we can’t shoot, we’re in for a long season…” one fan wrote.
“Switching sports. @DukeMBB will win a lot of games this year, but 3 pt shooting will be their Achilles heel. Not a lot of proven quality shooters. NCAA exit will be due to a team packing paint and inability to knock down threes,” one fan reacted.
“One thing that I hope we get better at over the course of the year is shot selection. We are too long to even worry about 3-point shooting. Teams already have to struggle when trying to solve our defense. Make them work on the defensive end trying to guard the length we have,” one fan noted.
“Make open 3s and these zones will disappear. Duke guards need to remember to kick instead of trying to score on multiple defenders,” one fan suggested.
“We’re nearly 15 minutes into this game, and Duke has yet to hit a 3. Don’t love that. Zone from Army is clearly causing hesitation. Someone’s gotta hit some shots,” one fan said during the game.
“0/9 from 3 is kinda crazy, Duke. Let’s hit some shots in the 2H,” one fan added.
“Besides the first couple minutes, that was an ugly half of basketball. The Army zone has slowed Duke down. Well, I don’t know if it’s that, or more Duke just can’t hit from deep. There’s a lot to love about the Duke defense. Would love to see an offensive explosion in the 2nd,” one fan reacted.
Duke’s Interior Dominance Masked Perimeter Problems
Duke just wasn’t converting from the outside, but they improvised with interior scoring.
The Blue Devils scored 50 points in the paint and converted 22 of 26 free throws. Dame Sarr led the team with 16 points, while freshman Joaquim Boumtje added 15 points and seven rebounds in his collegiate debut. Patrick Ngongba II also contributed 10 points and seven rebounds.
The Blue Devils’ defense was another reason why Army couldn’t take advantage of Duke’s 3-point shooting woes. The Blue Devils forced 24 Army turnovers and collected 16 steals.
Overall, Duke won convincingly, but their 3-point shooting has to improve as the season progresses with ranked opponents on the schedule.
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