Winslow, Cook thrive in Okafor's absence as Duke basketball routs Clemson

Freshman Justise Winslow scored 17 points in the first half en route to a double-double as the Blue Devils topped Clemson Saturday.
Freshman Justise Winslow scored 17 points in the first half en route to a double-double as the Blue Devils topped Clemson Saturday.

With Jahlil Okafor on the bench and Duke coming off a game in which it gave up 62 points in the paint, some worried that the Blue Devils would struggle to hold their own against the Tigers. Justise Winslow and Quinn Cook were not among them.

Behind Winslow's 20-point, 13-rebound performance, Duke took down Clemson 78-56 at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Winslow poured in 17 first-half points and Cook scored 17 of his game-high 27 points in the second half to keep the Tigers at bay and secure the Blue Devils' seventh straight win.

"That was one of the best wins we've had here in a long time. After Syracuse and North Carolina, the emotional wins, and Jahlil's injury, we're down to seven guys," head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "For us to play like this is spectacular. I'm so proud of them.... I'm not sure anybody has played any better in the league than Quinn and he did it again today. Justise had a spectacular day."

Playing without Okafor for the first time all season, many of the concerns before the game centered around how Duke (24-3, 11-3 in the ACC) would handle Clemson (15-12, 7-8) and its physical post players after being out-rebounded by North Carolina 49-33 Wednesday night.

But the concerns were quelled early, as the Blue Devils dominated the paint in the first half, outscoring the Tigers 30-18. This was a byproduct of the zone and 2-1-2 press implemented throughout the game as well as Duke's willingness to get out and run—it poured in 13 fastbreak points, nine of which came off the Tigers' 10 first-half turnovers. The Blue Devils would finish the game with 14 forced turnovers and 16 points off the Clemson mistakes.

"That zone allowed us to keep it packed in, not really allow their bigs to get a lot of shots," Jefferson said. "Everyone gang rebounded, so there wasn't a lot of offensive rebounds [and] second-chance points."

One of the positives of having Okafor out of the paint was that it opened the lane up for Winslow to drive and slash past his man and get to the basket for easy buckets—of the Houston native's eight field goals, six were layups and two were and-ones.

"I try to stay aggressive every game, but especially this game with Jah out, [Cook] had to step up, I had to step up," Winslow said. "Me being aggressive really helped out the team, defensively and offensively."

Winslow's aggression and Cook's sharp-shooting—the senior drained three 3-pointers in the second half after missing his two first-half attempts—allowed the Blue Devils to build up a 19-point lead out of the break.

The Tigers cut the lead down to 10 with 13:57 left in the game, but Duke responded with a pair of 3-pointers from freshman Grayson Allen and Quinn Cook and would pile on a 10-0 run to push the lead to 20.

"Justise did an amazing job of battling and fighting today," junior Amile Jefferson said. "Him and Quinn really elevated our team, and everyone else just banded around that and followed it."

But it was not all Duke early on, as Clemson kept things close and took a five-point lead when Landry Nnoko connected on jumper with 15:17 left to put the Tigers up 11-6. But Duke's rookies teamed up with their senior captain to get the fans at Cameron Indoor back into the game.

Freshman Grayson Allen entered the game for the first time following the under-16 and just 50 seconds into his court-time, the rookie got the fans on their feet when he flushed an alley-oop from Cook to pull Duke within three points. Allen finished with 10 points in 18 minutes of play off the bench.

"All the kids played—Marshall gave us a huge 24 minutes [with] just his physicality and energy," Krzyzewski said. "Grayson keeps coming on. I'm proud of my guys. I wasn't sure what was going to happen today. What I got was a spectacular performance from this Duke team."

The senior captain then converted on a jump shot and fed Winslow for a transition 3-pointer to cap a seven-point run for the Blue Devils and give back the lead at 13-11.

The Tigers would fight back to retake the lead on a Rod Hall jump shot, putting them up 15-13. But once again, Duke received a boost from Winslow and Allen, as the two combined for the next seven points.

The pair's scoring run coincided with a stout defensive stand for the Blue Devils, as Clemson went scoreless for the next 3:14. By the time it was over, Duke had put together an 18-5 run, with Winslow pouring in 12 of his 17 points during the run.

"They had some good looks, but they missed," Krzyzewski said. "The good thing for us is once we got a three-point lead we didn't let up. We had a good end-of-half with Quinn scoring."

The Blue Devils will next take the floor Wednesday at 9 p.m. against Virginia Tech, as they travel to Blacksburg, Va., to take on the Hokies for the first time this season.

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