NEW YORK — Duke’s “backcourt-that-might-have-been” gathered at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night.
They just weren’t on the court together.
Trevor Keels, now playing professionally for the New York Knicks’ G League affiliate in Westchester, New York, watched his former high school and Duke teammate Jeremy Roach have another solid game for the Blue Devils.
About an hour after Roach scored 22 points, leading No. 15 Duke past Iowa, 74-62, in the Jimmy V Classic, Keels surrendered to nostalgia.
“I really miss playing wit (sic) Jeremy Roach,” Keels wrote on his Twitter feed, followed by the emoji depicting a pleading face with sad eyes.
In high school, Keels and Roach teamed to win a state championship at Paul VI in Fairfax, Virginia.
Last year, they were teammates once again and Duke won the ACC regular-season championship and reached the Final Four.
Now Keels is a pro, which had him sitting courtside alongside another Blue Devil-turned-NBA rookie Mark Williams, at the Garden watching this year’s Blue Devils play Iowa.
For parts of Duke’s first 11 games this season, the backcourt clearly missed Keels’ ball-handling and shooting as the offense went through three games where they shot 36% or worse.
But Roach is starting to ease those concerns. Freshman guard Tyrese Proctor, who reclassified to come to Duke a year early once Keels decided to stay in the draft at the withdrawal deadline last June, is doing more good things to make the situation better, as well.
First, a look at Roach, who’s scoring average is up to 13.1 points per game now that he’s topped the 20-point mark twice in the past five games.
He saw a couple of layup attempts roll off the rim and missed some shots late when Duke had a healthy double-digit lead to finish 8 of 18 from the field against Iowa. But don’t let that take away from the shot-making Roach displayed, particularly in the first half, to help the Blue Devils take control.
“When you see your first couple shots going in, I mean, you know, you’re kind of in a rhythm,” Roach said. “I had the floater to begin the game and then a 3, so I kind of knew I was going.”
Duke coach Jon Scheyer encourages Roach, and others, to drive the ball to the basket when those lanes open up.
Duke needs Roach driving and finishing and sinking jumpers like he did Tuesday night.
Without Keels, though, Roach needs help. Proctor looked more like that kind of player against Iowa. The 6-5 Australian scored only eight points, but he played turnover-free basketball for 29 minutes.
He made 3 of 6 shots, including 1 of 3 on 3-pointers, while scoring seven of his points in the first half.
When Proctor runs Duke’s offense, that allows Roach to do more away from the ball to get his offense going.
“Obviously he’s a great player,” Roach said. “He’s been a natural point his whole life. Him getting some pressure off of me, takes some stuff off my legs, some stuff off my plate. I’m just thankful for him to be in the backcourt to do that.”
Roach and Proctor combined to play 66 minutes against Iowa. Roach finished with a +20 plus/minus rating, meaning the Blue Devils outscored Iowa by 20 points when he was in the game.
Proctor was plus-14.
That’s pretty solid backcourt play, even as Keels wishes he could be a part of it after all.
The backcourt duo got help from its wings against Iowa as well, with 6-8 freshman Mark Mitchell driving and scoring his way to 17 points while playing 29 minutes with one turnover.
Another freshman, Dariq Whitehead, played a season-high 21 minutes for Duke. The 6-7 Whitehead, working his way back after missing more than two months with a fractured right foot, contributed eight points with six rebounds and three assists.
Projected as a first-round NBA Draft pick next summer, Whitehead has plenty more to show, but he’s starting to get there.
“I thought he made a big time step tonight the way he rebounded the ball and his defense on (Kris) Murray,” Scheyer said. “You can see he’s a really good passer. He had three assists he could have easily had five or six the way he can play make.”
Like Duke’s team as a whole, they are chasing greatness knowing that it takes time to get there.
The 9-2 start to the season is comforting. But Scheyer and the Blue Devils have their eyes on more.
