It was not a pretty shooting performance through the first 12 minutes of the first half. Neither team could get much of anything going on offense, with both teams misfiring from beyond the arc and in the paint. While things got better for the Blue Devils at the end of the half, Michigan had no such luck. Duke is led by Rodney Hood's 10 points. No Wolverine player has more than two field goals, and Glenn Robinson III leads the way with five points.
Observations:
- Michigan shot just 8-of-26 in the first half—a 30.8 percent clip.
- Josh Hairston started the game playing good defense on Mitch McGary. He frustrated McGary on a couple shot attempts and boxed out well. Hairston was relegated to the bench with just under 15 minutes left in the half with two fouls, but returned later in the half.
- Head coach Mike Krzyzewski changed up the rotation a bit tonight. Matt Jones and Marshall Plumlee were the first two guys off the bench instead of Rasheed Sulaimon and Amile Jefferson. Sulaimon didn't see the court at all in the first half.
- Plumlee was productive in his action—skying for rebounds and making hustle plays away from the ball.
- Krzyzewski was not shy about playing his bench and playing them in obscure lineups. One lineup featured Tyler Thornton, Jones, Andre Dawkins, Jefferson and Plumlee. That lineup is without Duke's three leading scorers.
- Quinn Cook was charged with a technical foul for pegging Jon Horford with the basketball after being shoved underneath.
- Nik Stauskas, who averages 20.3 points per game this season, had zero field goals in the first half. Credit the defense of Thornton and Jones for giving Stauskas trouble.
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