Wearing Duke uniforms for the first time, the much-hyped freshman class lived up to its billing in the men's basketball team's annual Blue-White Scrimmage Saturday evening in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Pacing the white team, which won 46-38 in the 20-minute period, were freshman Shane Battier and Elton Brand, as the two big men delivered as advertised on the inside. Battier started off the scoring with a put-back and Brand ended the game with a dunk off a Battier pass. The duo combined for 29 points and 12 rebounds.
Battier led all Blue Devils in points, rebounds and drama. He finished with 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting, six boards-including four on the offensive end-and one cut on his right eyelid that required stitches. After sitting out almost three minutes to have his cut bandaged, Battier returned to nail two three-pointers in the final five minutes.
"Shane has a great court presence," coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "He scored a lot of points, but, I thought, he got a lot of rebounds-he just did everything well right at the start of the scrimmage... He just does things in a very efficient manner... He's just an intelligent basketball player, easy to play with."
For Battier, the fun went beyond his impressive numbers. For he and his fellow freshman, it was his first time wearing Duke uniforms and just the second time playing in front of the Cameron crowd.
"The best way I can describe it is a kid in a candy shop," Battier said. "Coming in today and I was just feeling the electricity of Cameron. Coming in and getting the first tip-in, that really got me into the game. After that, I just felt good. I became really hungry."
Brand added 13 points and six rebounds for the white team. Going up against fellow freshman Chris Burgess, Brand held his 6-foot-10 opponent relatively in check, keeping him to just four rebounds and four points.
"Elton has established a great inside presence for us," Krzyzewski said. "He's poised-I think poised is a word that describes both of those kids, Battier and Brand. They're beyond their years in poise. It's apparent that everyone has that confidence in Elton. And they should, he has played very, very well."
Leading the Blue team in scoring, freshman William Avery poured in 11 points with his aggressive, driving style. Avery committed only one turnover and kept his poise despite senior Steve Wojciechowski's pressure defense.
Not surprisingly, Wojciechowski led all Blue Devils with five assists. More noteworthy, however, is the fact that the Blue squad's Chris Carrawell was right behind him with four assists and only two turnovers.
"We have confidence in Chris' ball-handling," Krzyzewski said. "Usually he won't go against as good an on-the-ball defender as he did [tonight]. Chris is a real good leader. He plays efficiently, and he's very versatile."
One thing that was clearly evident Saturday was Duke's depth. The Blue Devils were divided into two separate squads, either of which could be a pretty decent college team.
"Its great to see every day in practice you walk out there and you've got 14 high-quality basketball players on this team..." Wojciechowski said. "Once we put all the pieces together and get everything fine-tuned, there's a lot of possibilities for this team to have a real special year."
The teams for Saturday's game were selected in a draft by the two captains.
Langdon was the Blue team's second-leading scorer with nine points. Langdon sank a three late in the game but effectively slashed to the basket for his first three hoops.
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