Remember when Miami was a team you had to take seriously? That Miami could hurt you. That Miami could float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. That was not the Miami we saw Tuesday night and frankly we miss that other Miami.

Duke beat this Miami by 35, 89-54, and it was nolo contendere, no mas, no way for the ‘Canes, and that started early.

Miami tied the game at 6-6 and then Duke took over and went on a three point binge.

Kon Knueppel hit two, then Mason Gillis hit two then Knueppel hit another. Then it was Sion James and Isaiah Evans hit a pair. By that time it was 30-15 and the game was effectively over.

Duke shot 8-12 on threes in the first half and finished the game 17-32 and 53.1 percent on threes is not bad.

Duke’s defense was also imposing. The Blue Devils held Miami to 6-20 on threes (30 percent) and 23-59 overall (39 percent). The ‘Canes only had eight turnovers, but that doesn’t reflect the number of pressured shots, airballs and shot clock violations that Duke pushed them into.

Lynne Kidd was the only real threat Miami had for most of the game and he did surprisingly well against Khaman Maluach, finishing with 20 points and just one rebound.

Austin Swartz got 11 points and that was about it for the ‘Canes. Jalil Bethea had seven; no one else had more than five.

No doubt a lot of people were looking for Cooper Flagg to erupt again after his 42 point game against Notre Dame but that didn’t happen. Flagg finished with 13 points, seven rebounds and six assists.

The leading scorer was Knueppel. Playing like he wanted to make up for the end of the Notre Dame game, Knueppel finished with 25 on 9-11/6-8 shooting. He also had three assists.

Tyrese Proctor didn’t score in this one and that followed a three-point outing against the Irish. Prior to that he had 14, 13, 14 and ten in the previous four games.

Sion James finished with five points, five assists, two rebounds and three blocks, including one terrific one in the second half.

Mason Gillis was tremendous too. His role has really expanded in the last two games. He’s just playing at a much higher level.

Caleb Foster played well, scoring nine points on 3-6/2-3 from the floor. He has been working hard to get to the basket lately and that’s a nice complement to the hot outside shooting.

Duke used Patrick Ngongba for 18 minutes in the absence of Maliq Brown, and he showed some improvement too. He finished with four points and five rebounds and certainly didn’t hurt the team. That’s pretty good for a freshman who was pushed back by injury.

Isaiah Evans played well and aggressively, finishing with eight points and two boards.

Darren Harris got in for eight minutes and also did well. He didn’t score much – just a free throw – but he was comfortable on the court.

You’ve probably noticed that we haven’t gotten to Khaman Maluach yet and that’s because we saved the best for last.

Well, Knueppel was the best tonight. But we could certainly say Maluach was the most exciting thing about this game.

In the earliest games this season, Maluach was tentative. At times he was almost timid. Those days, if they’re not gone, nearly are.

Maluach is a different player. It’s not his stats though they were excellent. He had 12 points on 6-7 from the floor and 15 rebounds. Maluach was tremendous Tuesday.

What really excited us though was his alertness and confidence. There was no tentativeness. There was no uncertainty. And best of all, there were two plays in a row in the second half where he was near the basket and just took the ball straight up. First time was after a rebound and the second he just went up for a jump hook.

These were things he just didn’t do earlier. It wasn’t a question of ability. It was just a lack of confidence and experience. He’s improving with unbelievable speed.

It’s really one of the most striking things we’ve ever seen at Duke. We’ll have to think about this but who has ever improved like this this quickly?

With the win, Duke moves to 15-2 and the losses to Kentucky, by five, and Kansas, by three, don’t seem as concerning.

Next up for the Blue Devils is a trip to Boston College Saturday, then three straight Tobacco Road opponents – at Wake Forest, then NC State and UNC at home.