Duke takes on Shaw

In what should have been an easy exhibition game against a Division-II team, the Blue Devils came out of the gate slowly when they kicked off their collegiate season last weekend.

Coming off an 87-65 exhibition win over Bellarmine, Duke will look to work out some early season kinks and continue improving when it plays Shaw at 7 p.m. tonight in Cameron Indoor Stadium. The game is Duke’s second and final exhibition match before heading into regular season play.

After the contest against Bellarmine, in which the Blue Devils failed to find a rhythm until late, the matchup against Shaw will serve as another opportunity to develop a layer of consistency that was missing in the opener. They face a Bears team playing its first game of the 2011-12 campaign, after finishing with a 23-9 record last season. In the process, they won the CIAA championship, making it to the NCAA Atlantic Regional semifinal for Division-II basketball, where the team lost to top-ranked Western Liberty.

With no player above 6-foot-9, the Bears may be vulnerable to the inside scoring attack of Miles Plumlee, Mason Plumlee and Ryan Kelly, who combined for 40 points against Bellarmine.

The Bears will also have to find a new way to generate points without last season’s leading scorer, Raheem Smith, who averaged 19.6 points per game.

In terms of leadership, though, Shaw has a wealth of experience, returning four seniors and six juniors. Additionally, the team is coached by last year’s Division-II coach of the year, Cleo Hill.

For Hill, the key will be developing a game plan that can stymie Duke’s outside efforts the way the Knights­­­ did—holding the Blue Devils to just 2-for-14 from long range made the game competitive for much longer than it could have been otherwise.