After a 105-87 victory in the season-opening exhibition win against Western Washington, Duke basketball returns to the hardwood at Cameron Indoor Stadium tonight for another exhibition, this time against Winston-Salem State.
Read our preview: Duke basketball vs. Winston-Salem State
As Duke basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski gets his second look at players in game action, here are the three key aspects of the action to pay attention to:
Can the Blue Devils clean up the glass?
Against Western Washington, the Blue Devils won the rebounding battle 41-34. That was the good news for Duke.
The bad news? Eighteen of Western Washington's 34 boards were on the offensive end. The Blue Devils collected just 14 offensive boards. The tallest player on Winston-Salem State's roster is 6-foot-8 forward Michel-Ofik Nzege, while the team's leading rebounder from last season is just 6-foot-4. On paper, Duke should be able to dominate the glass, but the same was true against Western Washington, whose bigs topped out at 6-foot-9. Ryan Kelly and Mason Plumlee—this is on you.
Clean up those turnovers
The Duke guards clearly focused on pushing the ball in their first exhibition, and the results showed with 105 points. The downside? Eighteen Blue Devil turnovers, while they forced just 15. Quinn Cook, who was second on the team with 32 minutes played, turned the ball over six times. He picked up 13 points, three assists and a steal in the game—and orchestrated the offense in an effective way that doesn't show on the stat sheet—but that turnover total has to be at least cut in half. Mason Plumlee, who led the team with 22 points and 11 rebounds in 33 minutes, added five turnovers.
Will Murphy be a bigger factor?
In his first game since redshirting last season, Alex Murphy was a part of the starting five, which was not a surprise. What was surprising, however, was that he played just 19 minutes. Tyler Thornton played 24 minutes off the bench, Amile Jefferson also played 19 and Josh Hairston chipped in 15. Murphy was fine in his time on the court—he shot 3-of-5 from the field for six points and added four rebounds and two blocks, showing off his bulked up frame. But with a starting position his to lose, highly touted offensive potential and blond flow that has everybody convinced that he must be Kyle Singler 2.0, the expectations are high.
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