After dispatching Livingstone with ease in their first exhibition game, the Blue Devils will welcome another Division II opponent to Cameron Indoor Stadium Saturday.
No. 4 Duke plays host to Central Missouri—the reigning Division II champions—at 1 p.m. in its final tuneup tilt before the regular season tips off Nov. 14. The contest against the Mules will provide Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski with one final opportunity to evaluate the stockpile of talent on his roster against outside competition.
Livingstone did not offer much resistance to the Blue Devil onslaught Tuesday night, as freshmen Tyus Jones and Justise Winslow helped Duke run and gun its way to a 115-58 blowout. Jones dished out 11 helpers against just one turnover, indicative of a Blue Devil squad made of willing passers. The team has shown great chemistry so far, helped by the fact that its three freshman starters—Jones, Winslow and center Jahlil Okafor—played together with Team USA while in high school.
"The best thing about [Tuesday] besides effort was the way we shared the ball," Krzyzewski said after the Livingstone win. "To have 25 assists on 34 buckets, I thought that was fun."
Winslow was the beneficiary of Duke's rapid ball movement, finishing with 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting. The freshman from Houston was one of four Blue Devils to knock down at least three shots from long range, and displayed his athleticism with a couple of acrobatic finishes around the rim.
At 6-foot-6 and 220 pounds, Winslow's versatility allows him to play anywhere from the off-guard to the power forward position. The rookie said Tuesday that he didn't have a preference about where he plays.
"I feel most comfortable on the court, no matter the position," Winslow said. "Defensively, I can try to pressure their forwards, I think I'm strong [enough] to play them down in the post. Offensively, it's an automatic mismatch. I don't think any four in the country can guard me. If I do my work on the defensive end, then it has a plus for us on the offensive end."
One thing to watch Saturday will be Duke's substitution strategy.
In Tuesday's contest, Krzyzewski opted to give his 10 scholarship players equal playing time in the first half, swapping five fresh bodies in every five minutes to give every Blue Devil a chance to get used to playing in front of a crowd. After intermission, he subbed more normally. Jones and senior Quinn Cook got most of the guard minutes, squeezing junior Rasheed Sulaimon out of the rotation.
Although he employed the hockey-style line changes with success at times last season, Krzyzewski promised a new look from Duke Saturday.
Jones—who started in the backcourt with sophomore Matt Jones Tuesday—said the five-in, five-out approach had its benefits, particularly on the defensive end.
"It just means you can give it your all. You don't have to pace, you can pick up, really pressure the ball," Jones said. "And then the next squad rolls in and we don't lose a step. It's good for us to do the five-in, five-out, and it's [up to] the next group to keep the pressure on them."
The Mules, three-time MIAA defending conference champions, return eight players from last year's national title squad, but will be led by a fresh face at the end of the bench.
After winning the Division II championship, Central Missouri head coach Kim Anderson was lured away to make the leap to the state's flagship Division I program—the Missouri Tigers. With Anderson in Columbia preparing to lead the Tigers into their second season in SEC, the Mules tapped Doug Karleskint—formerly the head coach at Arkansas Tech—to man the sidelines.
Central Missouri returns just one double-digit scorer in 6-foot-9 senior center Dillon Deck, who will be tasked with dealing with Okafor on both ends of the floor. Deck turned in six double-doubles last season, including a 16-point, 10-rebound performance in the Division II national championship win against West Liberty.
It says a lot about when Okafor's potential when his 15-point output on 6-of-7 shooting Tuesday can be considered quiet. With the Blue Devil guards firing on all cylinders—Duke drilled 15 3-pointers in the rout—getting the ball inside to the center wasn't crucial. But if the Blue Devils want to make a deep run come March, he'll have to carry a big part of the load.
Winslow recognized that the exhibitions Tuesday and Saturday aren't indicative of the types of games Duke will play later in the year. And the Blue Devils aren't content with one blowout.
"Our goal wasn't to beat Livingstone," Winslow said. "Our goal is much further down the road."
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