Reliance on the long ball propels Blue Devils Saturday

To say that 2016 has been a streaky year for the Blue Devils would be an understatement. Duke’s ACC record, in part, consists of a three-game winning streak, a three-game losing streak and now a two-game winning streak. The Blue Devils’ ledger is the result of a team that relies on the streakiest aspect of the game—shooting—and, in particular, shooting from behind the arc.

Saturday’s game against N.C. State was no exception. Led by freshman Luke Kennard and sophomore Grayson Allen,  Duke threw up 28 3-pointers, which is only slightly more than the number of attempts averaged during its four losses so far in ACC play. The difference was that this time, they went through the net instead of clanking harmlessly off the rim.

Against Syracuse Jan. 18, Duke went 10-for-37 from behind the arc and lost by two. Against the Wolfpack, Duke went 14-for-28 and won by eight. The old homage still rings true: Live by the three, die by the three.

Only once in ACC play have the Blue Devils attempted fewer than 20 3-pointers—Jan.6 against Wake Forest—and several times, the majority of Duke’s shots have been triples. With several shooters capable of hitting more shots than they miss from behind the arc, it is easy to see why head coach Mike Krzyzewski allows for this often high-risk aspect of the game to become the cornerstone of his offense. Against N.C. State, both Allen and Kennard combined to go 10-of-18 from deep, and Matt Jones, Derryck Thornton and Brandon Ingram combined for the other four.

“For myself personally, it was a slow start once I got in,” Kennard said. “But then I came in and ended up hitting, I think it was three straight. My teammates did a great job. When they went to zone, my coaches wanted me to be ready to shoot, knock down shots and make plays. Guys were finding me, and I was just ready to shoot and knock them down.”

Kennard sunk 6-of-11 3-pointers, including those three consecutive triples in the first half, and Allen hit 4-of-7. When all was said and done, Allen had 28 points, and Kennard had 26.

“I just found myself open,” Allen said. “The way our offense works, guys are going to get open looks, and that’s something I’ve been seeing more and more. I was able to do it in the last game, and continue to do it tonight and just knock them down. All of our guys need to shoot [3-pointers] with confidence.”

Allen and Kennard have certainly not been shy about hoisting from deep. With his 11 attempts Saturday, Kennard joined Allen, Jones and Ingram as Blue Devils will more than 100 3-point attempts this season. The three Duke starters are all shooting better than 40 percent from beyond the arc, with Kennard sitting at 32.1 percent after a rough start to the year.

But for every stretch of game time during which Allen, Kennard and Co. seemingly cannot miss, there has been a drought during which nothing will fall, and the 3-pointer becomes what it was intended to be—a low-percentage shot.

When the buckets do not drop, the Blue Devils will have to do other things to score, and they did that Saturday by getting to the free-throw line. After a Kennard lay-up with 10:12 left gave Duke a 69-57 lead, the home team did not make another field goal until 2:49 remained in the game. But during that 7:23 stretch, the Blue Devils added 12 points to their side of the scoreboard, all of them from the charity stripe.

Allen went a perfect 12-of-12 from the line, getting into the heart of the Wolfpack defense and drawing contact—and Kennard knocked in both of his free throws to improve his free-throw percentage to 92.2 percent—a mark Allen admitted is providing him plenty of motivation.

“I think [Kennard is] beating me in percentage right now, so I’ve got to catch up,” said Allen, an 85.6 percent free-thrower after Saturday’s perfect outing.

Take away the hot shooting for most of the game, though, and there were clear needs for improvement in other facets of the game that Duke must correct if the Blue Devils are to climb back into the top 25.

Duke was outrebounded 38-29 and allowed four Wolfpack players to break double digits, including 26 points for Anthony “Cat” Barber. Had it not been for N.C. State’s woeful offense in the first 10 minutes—the Wolfpack opened shooting 26.7 percent from the field, including several misses from inside the paint—Duke likely would have been outscored.

Freshman point guard Thornton made his second-straight start Saturday and drew the assignment of trying to hound Barber. The Chatsworth, Calif., native made life difficult for the ACC’s leading scorer in the first 15 minutes, but Barber suddenly came alive just before halftime and proceeded to thwart the best efforts of Duke’s defense for the rest of the afternoon with nifty drives and finishes as well as six assists.

Thornton scored seven points on 2-of-4 shooting, but back-to-back turnovers by the freshman early in the second half allowed the Wolfpack to within one and brought Kennard quickly to the scorer’s table to sub him out.

“Derryck actually did a decent job on [Barber] in the first half,” Krzyzewski said. “In the second half—this happens sometimes with freshmen—he made those two turnovers, the whole world could have ended right there for our team.”

The world did not end Saturday because the Blue Devils continued to stay hot from downtown. But on a day when the shots hit merciless iron, Duke will need to buckle down and improve on the “little things” to continue to build momentum toward the postseason.