Dawkins Plays Strong While Overcoming Loss

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Ten days after encountering tragedy when his 21-year-old sister, Lacey, was killed in a car accident, Andre Dawkins stepped back out onto the floor in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Maybe he had dedicated the game in his mind to his sister, or maybe the freshman took his frustration out on the game. What's certain is that the guard didn't miss a beat: Dawkins scored 16 points in 24 minutes of play and shot 3-for-5 from long range against Gardner-Webb.

Getting back on the court, the freshman said after the contest to the media, was a distraction that he welcomed.

"I don't think it's tough to focus," Dawkins said. "Once I get in here, it's so intense, you have no choice but to focus. I think it's a lot easier to focus on basketball rather than to be down in the dumps. It felt great. I couldn't wait to get back with my teammates, just to kind of distract myself from all of this. It felt great, especially to come out and have a successful game."

On Saturday, head coach Mike Krzyzewski, assistant coach Nate James and Athletic Director Kevin White attended Lacey Dawkins' funeral and spent time with the family. Later that day, they brought Dawkins back to campus where his teammates have made deliberate efforts to reach out to him.

But on the court, Dawkins' ability to quickly reintegrate his game into the team Tuesday should hardly have come as a surprise. The freshman had to adjust quickly when he decided to join the Blue Devils' program a year before he had originally planned, but quickly became a spark off the bench despite not having the benefit of a summer to practice at Duke and adjust before his freshman year began.

"It's surprised me because he didn't have the summer," Krzyzewski said. "He had the adjustment of conditioning, college and school besides basketball. Usually those other things are taken care of during the summer and when you get into individual work then you just worry about basketball. He's a good player, a really good player."

For now, Dawkins will lean on the support of his teammates as he looks to readjust to life at Duke and overcome the loss of his sister. Fortunately, the guard says it's a group that he can depend on.

"This is definitely the most close-knit group of guys that I've ever played with," Dawkins said. "We can all hang out with each other. It doesn't matter...there are no cliques or groups or anything like that.  We're just one big family."