In Kyrie Irving’s absence, Andre Dawkins put on a show.
The sophomore guard took it upon himself to host a 3-point clinic in Cameron Indoor Stadium as he drained eight shots from behind the arc in Duke’s 83-48 victory over Bradley Wednesday night. His sharpshooting helped head coach Mike Krzyzewski win his 877th game, passing Kentucky’s Adolph Rupp for No. 3 on the career wins list.
After the No. 1 Blue Devils began the contest with Miles Plumlee slamming down an alley-oop from Nolan Smith, and then Dawkins sinking his first 3-pointer on the next possession, it appeared that Duke would roll over the overmatched Braves (4-5). However, the hole Irving left in the offense soon became apparent, as the Blue Devils (9-0) began to struggle with Bradley’s zone defense.
“Without Kyrie on the court we’re a different team,” Kyle Singler said. “There was just no continuity.”
Seniors Smith and Singler struggled tremendously in the first half, shooting 0-for-5 and 2-for-6 from the field, respectively. Fortunately for Duke, Miles Plumlee and Dawkins made excellent use of their increased minutes by picking up the slack on the offensive side of the ball.
Plumlee took care of business down low, going 4-for-4 from the field in the first half, and Dawkins took control of the game from beyond the arc. He hit four treys before halftime to lead Duke with 12 points.
Still, with 3:04 to play in the first half, the sluggish Blue Devils were only up by seven. Singler stepped up in the final minutes by making three free throws and then a 3-pointer immediately after to help Duke extend its lead to 14 heading into the locker room.
In the second half, Dawkins brought the crowd to its feet with a tremendous performance that helped the Blue Devils run away with the game. He drained four more threes and added two running jumpers to finish the game with a career-best 28 points.
“He had a heck of a game,” Krzyzewski said. “Andre has been as consistent as anybody we’ve had this season, including Kyle and Nolan and Kyrie.”
The threes kept coming as Singler and Seth Curry joined the mix. Singler finished the game with four treys, and although Curry has been struggling from the field and missed two open looks to start the game, he eventually found his stroke and added two 3-pointers en route to an eight-point performance.
“We were really unhappy with the fact that we became a jump shooting team in the first half,” Krzyzewski said. “We needed to hit the post more, and we did in the second half.... Therefore, our threes in the second half seemed a result of a bunch of guys playing together, instead of just one guy shooting.”
Duke struggled offensively at times, but its defense was stellar in containing Bradley’s best scorer, senior Andrew Warren. Warren came into the game averaging 19 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. The Blue Devils, specifically Singler, shut him down, limiting the guard to only seven points while shooting 33 percent from the field.
Dawkins finished the game only one three shy of tying Shane Battier and J.J. Redick’s single-game Duke record. And with Irving out indefinitely, the sophomore will have more opportunities to impact games with his sharpshooting abilities from beyond the arc.
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