Duke's top-ranked recruiting class may have received much of the attention during the offseason, but two games into the season, the returning Blue Devils have done much of the heavy lifting.
Playing on its second consecutive night in the 2K Classic benefitting Wounded Warrior Project, No. 5 Duke rolled to an easy 113-75 victory against Bryant Saturday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Sophomore Grayson Allen and junior Matt Jones led the way for the Blue Devils with career highs of 28 and 19 points, respectively, and freshman Brandon Ingram added 21, breaking 20 points for the first time in his career.
“At first, I think we played better on defense,” freshman point guard Derryck Thornton said. “We did a better job pressuring the ball and containing the ball. Secondly, we played more as a team. I think we did a great job today coming out and really trying to execute the things as far as getting in the paint and making the extra passes and playing together.”
After shooting just 24 percent from beyond the arc in the season opener Friday against Siena, Duke (2-0) found its shooting stroke early Saturday. The Blue Devils connected on eight of their 11 attempts from downtown in the first half, led by Jones, who connected on five triples of his own. With Allen continuing to attack the basket and Duke starting to hit perimeter jumpers, the Blue Devil offense found its stride and shot 48.6 percent in the first half en route to a 59-32 lead.
“At halftime, I told them, ‘I don’t know who’s scoring, I just know we are because we have connecting plays,’” Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “When you connect like that, that’s beautiful basketball. The rhythm of the offense starts going to the shot. You’re not going to do that all the time, but when you do get those exchanges, they're beautiful.”
Although they found their rhythm eventually, the Blue Devils got off to a slow start, scoring only five points while committing three turnovers in the game's first five minutes. But Ingram used his versatility to carry the Duke offense, hitting two 3-pointers and scoring eight of the Blue Devils' first 12 points.
As the half progressed and Duke settled into the game, the Blue Devil defense continued to raise its intensity as the length of Jones and Ingram in the passing lanes made life difficult for the Bulldogs. Despite allowing Bryant to shoot 48 percent from the floor in the first half, Duke scored 14 points off of 11 turnovers.
The team's intensity on the perimeter was matched with graduate student Marshall Plumlee's ferocity on the interior. Plumlee finished with three blocks and controlled the offensive glass with five offensive rebounds.
“One of the best ways I can contribute is with my energy each and every game, even if my shots aren't falling or I'm not being that much of an influence on the offensive end of the floor, I feel I can be a spark of energy,” Plumlee said. “I try to do that, and it's easy when you have guys like Amile Jefferson and Matt Jones setting the tone.”
With the Blue Devils in control, Krzyzewski gave the combination of Amile Jefferson along with four freshmen—Ingram, Luke Kennard, Derryck Thornton and Chase Jeter—time on the court in the second half. The lineup responded with some of the team's most exciting plays of the season as Kennard and Ingram threw down consecutive dunks after a pair of turnovers by Bryant to ignite the crowd and stretch the Blue Devil lead to as many as 36 points.
“We got that little run in the second half where we got some steals, Luke got some steals and all of a sudden they felt good and that’s what we needed to get going,” Krzyzewski said. “That’s a cool way of playing too, when we’re playing together."
The Bulldogs continued to scrap back and went on an 8-0 run of their own to narrow their second-half deficit. Bryant (0-1) shot 49.1 percent from the floor and knocked down 13 3-pointers of their own, led by sophomore guard Hunter Ware, who tallied 24 points.
Duke gets its first major test of the season Tuesday against No. 2 Kentucky in the Champions Classic in Chicago.
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