Grayson Allen shows potential in Duke's beat-down of Notre Dame

Saturday afternoon marked a lot of things for Duke—the Blue Devils' best first-half performance of the season, Matt Jones' career-high 17-point effort and Justise Winslow's third consecutive double-double.

But perhaps more importantly for the future, it marked freshman reserve Grayson Allen's best game since Nov. 21 against Temple. With the dismissal of Rasheed Sulaimon last week, the 6-foot-4 freshman will likely see an uptick in minutes, and he capitalized Saturday by coming up with a chase-down block and 3-pointer in 16 minutes of action.

"I was just chasing him down, I thought I was going to get a steal since I thought he was going to make a bounce pass," Allen said of the block. "He took it himself. I just jumped up there, pretty much knocked over Matt, and was able to reach up and get the block. Then the three on the other end, I saw that coming as soon as [Jahlil Okafor] got the double. I knew it was going to get swung around so I was waiting for it the whole time."

Allen also made a nice drive in the first half to get to the free throw line and knocked in a pair of free throws to finish with five points, two rebounds and an assist to go along with the block. It may not have seemed like much at the time, but the Jacksonville, Fla., native's effort could end up being huge for his confidence as Duke continues adjusting to life with only eight scholarship players.

"He's a guy that we haven't yet seen what he can do," head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "But the guys love him. We'll see during these last eight conference games. He can help us—he's a great kid, he's a very good talent too. All eight of [our] guys have got to help us."

Starting guards Tyus Jones and Quinn Cook kept their strong play going in the Blue Devils' 90-60 romp and Matt Jones had a career day, but it seems that Allen will see crucial minutes when one of the three other true guards on Duke's roster is struggling or in foul trouble.

And despite likely not seeing the court as much as he hoped when he came to Durham as a five-star recruit, according to Krzyzewski, Allen understands that minutes are limited because of the play of his teammates and still stays ready in case his number is called.

"[The problem is] who do you take out when they're playing that way?" Krzyzewski said. "You can't take Matt out, he's hit every shot. Tyus and my little guy Quinn—they're playing lights out basketball, so he understands that."