In the four games leading up to Saturday’s Duke-Maine contest, the Blue Devils had primarily used four guards around big man Amile Jefferson.
With five-star freshmen Jayson Tatum, Marques Bolden and Harry Giles out due to injuries, Duke was forced to rely on its perimeter players for production in almost every statistical category.
But with guards Grayson Allen and Frank Jackson resting and Tatum and Bolden back in the fold, all of a sudden, the Blue Devils were using three players taller than 6-foot-8 for the duration of Saturday’s game.
Although Duke did not have its full complement of players—Allen and Jackson are expected to be back for Tuesday’s game against Florida—head coach Mike Krzyzewski’s team showed why it entered the season as the favorite to win the national title.
In addition to using smaller lineups to open driving lanes and create open perimeter shots, Duke can now suffocate teams with its length when it plays three or more frontcourt players at the same time depending on the opponent. The Blue Devils showed off that ability in the second half Saturday, when they used a methodical 26-4 run in a 9:56 stretch to break the game open and focused on pounding the ball into the paint on the offensive end.
“You’ll start to see when everyone gets ready that it’s going to be like tools in a toolbox. One game you’re going to go to the hammer, one game you’re going to go to the screwdriver,” said graduate student Amile Jefferson, who had a career-high 20 points. “It’s just what you’re going to need that game because we have a lot of talent and guys are getting healthy now.”
Even with Giles—who Krzyzewski said went through a full-contact practice Friday and will do more 5-on-5 work in the coming weeks—still not playing, Duke could have its deepest bench since the start of the 2014-15 season moving forward.
Bolden and Tatum said they both found out they would play Friday, and after several weeks off due to lower-leg injuries, both looked rusty to begin the contest.
Tatum started alongside Jefferson, sophomore big man Chase Jeter, sophomore Luke Kennard and senior Matt Jones in his return from a foot sprain, missing his first shot of the season on a 3-pointer early in the game.
He broke through at the 13:49 mark of the first half on a post move and was much more assertive from that point on. Following a brief stint on the bench, Tatum grabbed four defensive rebounds and went 0-of-3 from the field and 1-of-2 from the free throw line in a 2:15 stretch, with many of his shots coming after he collected Maine misses and pushed the ball up the court in transition.
Although his shots did not fall, one of the misses set up Bolden’s first bucket on a put-back, and Krzyzewski noted that he liked Tatum’s aggressiveness. The prolific scorer made his final field goal toward the end of the first half on a triple from the left wing before leaving the game due to cramps in his right leg early in the second half.
In 20 minutes, Tatum had 10 points on 2-of-7 shooting, eight rebounds and one block.
“I really wasn’t focused on scoring. I was just happy to be out there, getting to rebound, play defense and win,” he said. “Just being out there with the guys is all I was worried about.”
Krzyzewski noted that Bolden had not done anything for five weeks due to a lower-leg injury, and the 6-foot-11 center struggled the first two times he touched the ball after coming off the bench early in the first half.
The first time, Bolden was whistled for a travel, and less than 30 seconds later, the DeSoto, Texas, native ran over a Black Bear defender on his way to the hoop for a charge.
But as was the case for Tatum, Bolden found his footing as the game wore on.
In a 40-second stretch in the second half, Bolden had consecutive putbacks, collecting misses from his teammates for a layup and dunk to finish with seven points and five boards in just 12 minutes. Krzyzewski said Bolden got tired, and the big man said after the game that he did not have any minutes restriction or target in his return to the court.
“The team has been playing well together, so I’m trying not to come in and disrupt anything that’s been going on. I just want to add to what the team has done so far,” Bolden said. “I’m not quite myself yet, but that’s coming along during the season.”
With so much length and athleticism on the court moving forward, Krzyzewski and his staff will have the opportunity to switch lineups and defenses to match up against various opponents.
As the freshmen get used to playing with their teammates, the other Blue Devils will also get to adjust their style of play based on who else is on the court. Duke swatted eight shots Saturday, and senior guard Matt Jones said he felt even more confident than normal pressing up on Maine’s ball handlers with an imposing frontcourt behind him.
The scary part for Blue Devil opponents is that such confidence is likely to only grow in the coming weeks.
“I know if I get blown by I’ve got a couple of 6-[foot]-11 guys behind me that love blocking shots,” Jones said. “We definitely tried to accommodate everybody. Ultimately, everybody we put out there can do one of a lot of things.... It creates a mismatch problem—it’s a good problem to have.”
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