The Arizona Wildcats entered last Friday’s game with one of the best rebound margins in the country with an offensive rebound rate over 50%, but the Blue Devils took the glass in Tucson. Duke finished the game with 43 rebounds to Arizona’s 30, mostly because of the backcourt. Kon Knueppel grabbed seven boards, Tulane transfer Sion James finished with six, and returning starters Tyrese Proctor and Caleb Foster each grabbed four to contribute to the effort.

Conveniently, the Jayhawks have one of the lowest offensive rebounding rates in the country so far. The size of this Duke basketball roster is often brought up, but the advantage really stands out at the smaller positions. Flagg and Khaman Maluach can crash the glass, but with each guard at least 6-foot-1, no team can match the Blue Devils if every member of the backcourt is willing to jump for the ball.

Cooper Flagg leads the Blue Devils with 17.8 points per game, but finished with 26 points against Kentucky and 24 points against Arizona. He has shot 46.3% from the floor against both Wildcats teams, an improvement over his 42.4% against unranked opponents. His first half in Tucson wasn’t exceptionally efficient, but he scored 16 points after halftime to seal the win.

He made several big buckets to answer Arizona’s three-pointers, and he scored 12 of Duke’s final 14 points against Kentucky. The nation’s top freshman has already passed several tough tests in his first games, and the Blue Devils have a guy they can turn to when they need a bucket.

In games between national championship contenders, offensive ceiling is incredibly important, and Duke’s offensive peak can outpace the Jayhawks. Kansas currently has an effective field goal percentage of 57.3%, slightly higher than Duke’s 55.6%, but the shot spread gives the Blue Devils a path to chaos. The Blue Devils have taken 47.0% of their shots from behind the three-point line, while the Jayhawks have fired just 33.2% of their attempts from behind the line, one of the lowest marks in the country.

Granted, Duke’s defense still has to stop Hunter Dickinson and company (more on that later), but outside of the Kentucky loss, the Blue Devils have made 40.8% of their triples and can pile up points faster than Kansas when they get warm.

Through five games this season, the Blue Devils have given up 57.4 points per game and allowed their opponents to shoot 34.7% from the floor and 25.8% from 3-point range. The best performance by any Duke opponent this season came when Kentucky made 39.7% of its efforts and held Wofford to 35 points, a program record in the shot clock. Sure, there’s some luck and open misses involved, but when Maluach is on the ground, he lets the other four athletes around him harass opponents at the edge. If any team can slow down Kansas, it’s the team from Durham.

When the Blue Devils lost to Kentucky, the main problem stemmed from everyone around Flagg. Scheyer built the 2024-2025 roster with the idea that some of those other elite freshmen would contribute against great teams, and while that’s a tough task in the opening games, that’s still a learning curve where this roster trusted.

Knueppel, another five-star talent, initially looked a bit underwhelming on that front. After making one of his eight attempts in the second half against Kentucky, he scored two points on four shots in the first 20 minutes against Arizona.

However, fans watched that learning curve in real time in the second half. The opening week ACC Rookie of the Week returned to form, making three of his four 3-point looks to finish the game with 13 points with several big buckets to put the Wildcats away. If he can remain a reliable threat in the final ten minutes, look out.