Corey Maggette is a freshman. Nate James is in his third year at Duke but hasn't had much more court time than a freshman. But neither looked out of place Saturday night in the men's basketball team's second and final exhibition, a 118-76 thrashing of the Australia All-Stars in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The pair combined to shoot 9-of-11 in the first half, including 4-of-5 on three-pointers. Both players cooled off over the final 20 minutes, but in the game's waning moments gave the Blue Devils a rousing send-off to the regular season. Maggette blocked Troy Boundy and whipped a no-look pass to James, who was fouled with 2.3 seconds to go.
Although James' shots weren't falling in the second half, he made up for it by making an opponent struggle. Australia's Dominick Young, a former Fresno State guard who has no fear of shooting, drilled three treys in the first four minutes as the visitors trimmed six points off Duke's halftime lead. With 15:42 to go in the game, James took the floor, and Young didn't score again until James returned to the bench more than five minutes later.
"He's doing the things he's supposed to do," coach Mike Krzyzewski said of James. "When someone gets hot, he can come in and be the stopper for us."
James and Maggette also helped answer a question that has been dogging the Blue Devils all preseason: Who's going to play point guard? After Saturday's game, the question may be: Who isn't?
William Avery penetrated effectively all game, but looked for his shot as often as he looked to pass. The
Duke had no trouble moving the ball, however, and had twice as many assists as turnovers as a team. James contributed four assists, as did Chris Carrawell, who was happy that he didn't turn the ball over after struggling with that area in practice all week. Although Trajan Langdon wasn't hitting from outside (1-of-7 three-pointers), he tied Avery with five assists, and Maggette added some nifty passes, including the behind-the-back job before the final buzzer.
"Making the extra pass says you'll pass up a good shot for a better one," Carrawell said. "That helps the team. Guys playing like that will take us to another level."
For one three-minute stretch late in the first half, Krzyzewski used a lineup of James, Maggette, Carrawell and two big men. The Blue Devils outscored Australia 17-9 in that span, committed zero turnovers and recorded assists on all but one field goal. Maggette scored eight points in the three minutes and James added five.
"Any player off this team, if he's playing on another team, can be the star, the top scorer," James said. "Once we feel every player can put the ball in the hole we don't feel a guy can't score so we don't pass it to him. We all love to pass."
Duke's wing players pushed the ball up the floor consistently, setting up easy scoring opportunities. James started two fast breaks late in the first half, leading Elton Brand for a dunk with 5:21 to go, then finding Maggette for a lay-up and a foul a minute-and-a-half later.
"Myself, I'm not going to get many looks in the half-court offense," said Carrawell, who started a few fast breaks of his own. "But on the break I can get easy lay-ups."
Brand once again led all scorers with 24 points. The center had his way against the overmatched Australians, shooting 12-for-16 in just 19 minutes of action, the lowest total among Duke regulars. The Aussies didn't lack in size, sending seven-footer Kipp Christiansen and burly, 6-foot-8 reserve Matt Alexander to guard the Blue Devil sophomore. But they lacked the agility to bother Brand's turnaround jumpers in the half-court set or to keep up with him in the open floor.
"We're certainly running [the half-court offense] better because we have a focal point," Krzyzewski said. "We make sure Elton touches it. He shoots a high percentage and makes the right decisions on the double team."
Saturday marked the final preseason tuneup for Duke. The players all expressed impatience for the regular season to begin, and though Krzyzewski was not completely happy with the Blue Devils' performance, he too wants to get going.
"We're more talented than that team," he said of the Australians. "Talent can hide lots of things. We had some discontinuity on the defensive end with our rotation. We don't want to let people get in the middle. When you win big, the attention to detail goes out the window. It's not going to come until we face some tough competition."
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