Patrick Ngongba II Scores Career-High 28 as No. 2 Duke Routs Coastal Carolina 113-52

Three nights after Jon Scheyer sounded genuinely annoyed by a 34-point win, Duke gave its coach nothing to grumble about. The Blue Devils scored the first 16 points, led by 36 at halftime, crossed 100 with more than five minutes to play and beat Coastal Carolina 113-52 on Thursday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The 61-point margin is the biggest of the Scheyer era, according to The Chronicle, Duke's student newspaper.

The headliner was Patrick Ngongba II, who turned a quiet opener into a distant memory with a career-high 28 points on 10-of-13 shooting and nine rebounds. The 6-foot-11 junior had 18 by halftime, then stepped out and drilled two straight threes early in the second half for good measure. His previous best was 17, a number he reached twice last season. He finished plus-53, the best mark by a Blue Devil since 2014, per Duke Athletics.

No. 2 Duke is 2-0. Coastal Carolina, picked 13th of 14 teams in the Sun Belt preseason poll, is 0-2.

Message Received

If you read our recap of Duke's opener against Army, you know the theme coming out of Monday. Duke won big but went 4-of-22 from three, stalled against a zone and let a 26-point lead shrink to 14 in a hurry. Scheyer talked about the team letting people down when it failed to stretch the lead. Dame Sarr said the Blue Devils did not share the ball the way they can.

Thursday was the response. Duke assisted on 25 of its 38 made field goals. It shot 61.3 percent from the floor and went 11-of-22 from three, nearly triple its made threes from Monday. And the lead never stopped growing. It was 21-2 before the under-12 media timeout, 43-10 after a 14-0 burst with 5:37 left in the half, 54-18 at the break, and it peaked at 63 when Duke made two free throws with 74 seconds left.

That last part matters more than the final score. A coach who complains about a team "letting everybody down" by easing up is going to love a group that keeps pressing at 90-30.

The Opening Avalanche

Coastal did not score until about six minutes in, when Trey Perry finally broke the seal. By then Duke had already rattled off 16 straight points, and the Chanticleers had the look of a team that had just watched the scouting tape come to life at full speed.

Ngongba was the focal point from the start, scoring inside and getting to the free throw line, where he went 6-of-10 on the night. Caleb Foster, playing his 100th game as a Blue Devil, scored back-to-back buckets to push the margin past 20 at 27-5. The 14-0 run that followed made it 43-10, and Ngongba capped his first half by finishing a drive-and-dish from Foster with a dunk in the final seconds before the break.

Coastal's first-half numbers were bleak. Eighteen points, just like Army on Monday. Duke has now held both of its opponents to 18 in the first half, which is the kind of stat that tells you the defense is going to carry this team through the nights when shots do not fall.

Ngongba Steps Out

The second half opened with John Blackwell attacking the basket for three straight layups, a nice sign from a guard who went 1-of-6 against Army. Then came the sequence that will make the highlight reel. Ngongba, who attempted one three in the opener and missed, hit from deep on back-to-back possessions to push the lead past 40 and force a Coastal timeout.

That's the kind of wrinkle that changes how opponents defend Duke. Ngongba's value has always been his size, his screening and his work on the offensive glass. If he can make a defense respect him at the arc, even occasionally, the driving lanes for Sarr, Blackwell and Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje get a lot wider.

From there it was a parade. Deron Rippey Jr.'s three-point play made it 78-27, the first time Duke led by more than 50. Threes from Blackwell, Foster and Boumtje Boumtje made it 92-33 with eight minutes left. Cameron Williams buried a corner three to send Duke past 100, and the Cameron Crazies got the full triple-digit experience.

The Supporting Cast

Ngongba took the headlines, but the box score is full of encouraging lines for Scheyer.

Cayden Boozer ran the show with 11 points and a career-high 12 assists, matching the most by a Duke player in seven years, according to Field Level Media. On a night when the offense wanted to make a point about ball movement, the point guard finished with a double-double built on passing.

Blackwell and Foster scored 15 apiece. Foster hit three threes, which matters after he went 0-of-3 from deep in the opener.

Sarr was again ruthlessly efficient, scoring 12 points on 4-of-4 shooting with four steals. Through two games, he has not missed a field goal.

Sebastian Wilkins grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds off the bench. Duke won the glass 53-27, nearly double Coastal's total, and that rebounding gap is just as telling as the shooting numbers.

The defense produced 12 steals after forcing 16 against Army, and Coastal shot 19-of-63 (30.2 percent) from the field and 4-of-22 from three. Perry led the Chanticleers with 14 points and Jaevian Alston added 10 off the bench, but nobody else found a rhythm against Duke's length.

If there is a quibble, it is at the line. Duke went 26-of-41 on free throws, and 15 turnovers is more than you would like in a game you led by 33 before halftime. Coastal committed 17. Scheyer will find something to fix. That is the job.

What It Means

Two games in, the outline of this Duke team is getting clearer. The defense is elite out of the gate. The size is overwhelming against mid-major competition. And Ngongba, who missed time late last season before returning in the NCAA Tournament, looks like a more complete player than the one who helped Duke win 35 games a year ago.

It was also another tidy night for Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje, the 17-year-old freshman who knocked down a three during the late barrage. Two games is a small sample, but nothing about his first week suggests the bigger stage in Chicago will rattle him.

The question marks from Monday are not fully answered, because Coastal was never going to test the half-court offense the way a ranked opponent will. But the 25 assists, the 11 threes and the refusal to let up are exactly what the staff asked for after the opener.

For Coastal Carolina, this was a learning experience after a one-point loss to Eastern Michigan on Monday. The Chanticleers host USC Upstate on Monday, Nov. 9.

Duke's schedule turns serious right now. The Blue Devils face No. 6 Michigan State in the Champions Classic on Tuesday, Nov. 10, at the United Center in Chicago (7 p.m. ET, ESPN), then return home for SIU Edwardsville on Nov. 13 and Illinois on Nov. 17. For the full numbers, see Duke's recap (opens in a new tab) and the official box score (opens in a new tab).

The Take

The opener was a reminder that talent alone does not make a half-court offense. Thursday was a reminder of what happens when this much talent decides to move the ball and keep its foot on the gas. Ngongba's breakout is the story, Boozer's 12 assists are the subplot, and the 61-point margin is the exclamation point.

Michigan State will not give Duke 16 free points to start a game. But if the Blue Devils bring Thursday's ball movement to Chicago, they will be a very tough out in their first real test of the season.

Sources: Duke Athletics, the Associated Press, Field Level Media, The Chronicle, ESPN. More men's college basketball coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: Duke Athletics.