Jon Scheyer also said it was valuable watching his team, ranked No. 4 in last week’s AP Top 25, beat SMU 89-62 from a different perspective.

The SMU game is the first game Scheyer, who is in his third season as Duke’s head coach, missed since taking over the program following Mike Krzyzewski’s retirement in 2022. He never missed a game during his Duke playing career from 2006-10, when he appeared in 144 games.

Duke coach Jon Scheyer did not travel with the No. 4 Blue Devils for their 89-62 victory at SMU on Saturday due to illness. The program revealed Scheyer's status roughly 15 minutes before tipoff and announced associate head coach Chris Carrawell would serve as acting head coach for the game.