The Duke men had so many good things going on last season, individually and collectively, it’s not surprising a superlative or two eluded general notice. But this particular superlative is worth savoring, not just because of what it said about the 2024-25 squad but what it reveals about Jon Scheyer’s program.
The ’25 Blue Devils paced the ACC with .790 accuracy from the foul line. That was the second-best free throw shooting in Duke history, trailing only the Devils of 1978, another Final Four team,
and seventh-best in ACC history.
Duke was given a great boost by the foul line acuity of leading scorers Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel, who between them took 341 free throws, 45.3 percent of the team’s total, and made.868 percent. Knueppell missed a mere 11 foul shots in leading the ACC with a .914 conversion rate.
Appearing in a combined 74 games, between them the pair of freshmen missed only 45 foul shots on the year.
Scheyer’s strengths as a player seem to be translating to his teams.
He hit free throws with .861 efficiency from 2007-10, fourth-best in Duke history and historically ninth-best among all ACC players. His .899 foul shooting accuracy as a sophomore in 2008 was later tied by Tyus Jones for fifth-best in a season among all Blue Devils, and his .878 mark in 2010, when Duke won the NCAA title, ranks eighth.
In Scheyer’s three years as head coach (2023-25) the Blue Devils have combined to convert better than three-quarters of their foul shots: 1,575 of 2074, .7594 efficiency. That’s an average of 691 free throws per season, or 6.3 per game.
Over the 110 games of Scheyer’s coaching tenure, Duke has achieved better than a third of its points at the line, 36.2 percent. That compared with 32.3 percent of its scoring on average via 3-pointers, with his teams attempting 22.8 threes per game (1811 of 8708).
In other words, one might argue it was more profitable for the Devils of 2023 through 2025 to attack the basket than it was to shoot from the perimeter, even as observers tend to be mesmerized by perimeter punch.
Scheyer’s playing profile was a bit different. The 6-5 guard got 42.9 percent of his points on threes (297-780, .381) versus 29.3 percent on foul shots (608-706). But he was proficient in both sectors, as were the Duke teams he’s coached so far.
Speaking of ways in which Scheyer’s squads tend to mirror his playing profile, consider that his career ratio of assists to turnovers was 2.1:1. Over his three years at the Duke coaching helm, despite considerable player turnover his teams have increased their A:TO each season.
In 2023 Duke was 10th in the ACC at 1.22. In 2024 his team’s ratio improved to 1.58 assists to turnovers. And last season the Devils led the ACC with a 1.82 ratio of supportive connections versus errors, in the realm of Virginia’s best efforts under the controlling hand to Tony Bennett.
| EXACTING EFFORTS Best Team FT Accuracy In Duke History, Single Season |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FT% | FTM-FTA | Gs | Year | Record |
| .791 | 665-841 | 34 | 1978 | 27-7 |
| .790 | 576-729 | 38 | 2025 | 35-3 |
| .785 | 496-632 | 26 | 1973 | 12-14 |
| .7661 | 475-620 | 36 | 2023 | 27-9 |
| .7656 | 539-704 | 30 | 1971 | 20-10 |
| .7624 | 1019-2145 | 37 | 2017 | 28-9 |
| .7622 | 1171-2394 | 38 | 1990 | 29-9 |
