Men's basketball wins first London game

LONDON -- While the rest of the college basketball world woke up fresh off another round of Midnight Madness, the men's basketball

team got its season underway, beating Racing Basket Antwerpen

96-71 in the first game of the International Challenge Series at the

Crystal Palace National Sports Centre in London.

After a rough first quarter--the game was played according to FIBA

International rules--in which Duke was outscored 27-19, the Blue

Devils bounced back behind senior Dahntay Jones' sharp

shooting and tight defense. Jones, who lead Duke with 21 points,

Belgium League to only nine points in the second quarter.

"I thought we played with a lot of enthusiasm," head coach Mike

Krzyzewski said. "We gave up 27 points in the first ten minutes and

only 44 in the next 30. We began charging down balls and we

started playing defense-we should be a good defensive team,

we have a lot of depth and athleticism."

In the second half, Duke continued its solid play, experimenting

with different plays and lineups. Krzyzewski, who was much more

animated on the bench than usual, said that he was using the four

games as a teaching session, sometimes calling time outs

simply to explain plays and moves to his young team.

"When you have a younger team, you talk less on the court than you

need to," Krzyzewski said. "They only understand so much, so this

was a valuable experience for teaching."

The game was the first showing for Duke's highly touted freshman

class, a class considered by many to be the best ever recruited.

Both Shavlik Randolph and Shelden Williams started in their Blue

Devils debuts, with Randolph pouring in 19 points and seven

boards and Williams finishing with eight and two. Sean Dockery

was also impressive, racking up 11 points on 5-for-8 shooting and

four assists in 18 minutes.

The Blue Devils, who sold out the rarely frequented 3,000 person

stadium, play their next game at 5 p.m. British Summer Time

against the London Towers, the British Basketball League's Southern Conference Champions last season.