Sulaimon leaves his mark despite not attempting a shot

Duke's 109-point offensive clinic Saturday night featured four Blue Devils reaching double-figures. Rasheed Sulaimon was not one of them.

Eight players scored at least seven points in the blowout against Fairfield. Sulaimon was not one of them, either. In fact, the junior guard didn't score a point, and didn't even attempt a shot in Duke's 109-59 win Saturday. But the junior's fingerprints were still all over the Blue Devil rout.

"I never thought that I would not take a shot in a game, but I was having a lot of fun," said Sulaimon, who said he didn't become aware of that fact until he was re-inserted into the game after Grayson Allen fouled out with 1:09 remaining. "When you have a lot of unselfish guys on our team, it just makes it fun."

Sulaimon finished with four assists and a steal, and didn't turn the ball over, a big positive for Duke's sixth man. His biggest value-add to Saturday's win, though, was on defense, where Sulaimon's ball pressure frazzled the Stag guards and helped create 18 giveaways.

"You’ll feel good if you’ve made a positive impact on the game and you’ve won. He’s made a big positive impact on the game, and he’s doing it in a way that no one on our team can do it exactly like him," head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "He puts the best pressure on the ball, and he’s 6-[foot]-4. When he’s doing it, it takes the point guard’s vision away and they have a hard time getting by him."

Sulaimon said he views his defensive responsibility as applying heavy ball pressure to allow teammates Matt Jones and Justise Winslow to jump into passing lanes for easy steals—the duo had three of Duke's 12 thefts Saturday.

On the offensive end, Krzyzewski lauded Sulaimon's ability to break down opposing defenses with his "herky-jerky motion." Fairfield played mostly zone against Duke, which limited Sulaimon's opportunities to penetrate off ball-screens, but the junior found open teammates and made the right decision—a welcome change for Krzyzewski.

"His ball pressure and passing, he had four assists and no turnovers, but a number of his passes—if it was hockey he would’ve had about eight or nine assists today," Krzyzewski said. "When he’s getting by [his man] to score, a lot of times he can get knocked on his butt or whatever and that wouldn’t be 'the play'. Now when he’s getting by, he’s making the play that the team needs."