At the second-half under-12 media timeout, Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski voiced his displeasure after the Blue Devils had given up a 7-1 run.
But even without its top three freshmen, Duke was still up by 21.
Junior Grayson Allen poured in 25 points and 10 rebounds to lead the No. 1 Blue Devils to a 96-61 victory against Grand Canyon Saturday evening at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Duke’s backcourt found its stroke from the perimeter after a slow start and also attacked the basket with ease all evening—the Blue Devils got to the free throw line 31 times against an aggressive Antelope defense.
Amile Jefferson, Frank Jackson, Luke Kennard and Matt Jones all joined Allen in double figures.
“We have a lot of depth, a lot of playmakers that are on the court. We share the ball very well,” Kennard said. “We’ve got to use our defense to lead to our offense, and that’s one thing that I’ve seen a lot from the team so far.”
A day after Duke jumped out to a 12-0 lead on its way to a 94-49 season-opening rout against Marist, the Blue Devils (2-0) took a little longer to get going Saturday.
The Antelopes (0-1) ran out to a 17-12 lead in the early going, with junior guard Shaq Carr slicing through the Duke defense and getting a few easy layups, but they soon went ice cold. After starting the game 8-for-15 from the field, Grand Canyon’s offense struggled once its best players got in foul trouble.
Jackson capped an 8-0 run with a 3-pointer to give the Blue Devils a 20-17 lead, and they never trailed the rest of the way. Jackson finished with 21 points on an efficient 7-of-10 shooting and 4-of-6 clip from 3-point range.
“Frank did a great job of that tonight coming off the bench and playing with a verve, lifting our team up,” Jefferson said. “He’s crafty, he’s quick and he understands the spacing of the floor for where he needs to be to be most advantageous.”
Duke broke a 30-26 game open with a 30-5 run in just an eight-minute span late in the first half and continuing after the break. A no-look pass from Kennard to Jackson for a transition dunk put the Blue Devils in front 34-26, and the game got out of hand from there.
“We needed that boost, and I think we got the energy going,” Allen said. “Our crowd was great. They were loud, and they were feeding off of us and we were feeding off of them. There’s so much energy that it gets me going personally and it should get the whole team going.”
A slew of turnovers—Grand Canyon finished with 21 giveaways—led to easy points for Duke in a fast-paced game, and the Blue Devils soon started to find their shooters in transition. Duke started the game just 3-of-14 from beyond the arc, but made eights of its last 15 3-point attempts.
“We haven’t really shot the three the way we can, and part of that is we’re playing very hard defensively,” Krzyzewski said. “You can’t simulate that in practice.”
Jefferson went to work down low after halftime, scoring eight points in a six-minute span and finishing with 15, but received little help from big men Chase Jeter and Javin DeLaurier, who combined for three points and two rebounds.
There is still no timetable for the return of freshmen Marques Bolden, Jayson Tatum and Harry Giles, meaning Jefferson could be on an island in the post for a while if Jeter does not step up consistently. Jeter also struggled with foul trouble early and spent most of the second half with four fouls.
Allen led Duke in rebounding, as the All-American was forced to play 37 minutes given the team’s limited depth.
“We had actually 21 perimeter defensive rebounds, and that’s been a point of emphasis for us,” Krzyzewski said. “That helps us in the fast break, because then those guys can just blow it out of there.”
The Blue Devils will need more production in the post to complement their backcourt’s impressive start Tuesday night when they take on No. 3 Kansas in the Champions Classic in New York. The Jayhawks dropped their season opener against No. 11 Indiana 103-99 in overtime Friday.
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