Cook, Winslow give Duke needed edge in first-round rout of Robert Morris

CHARLOTTE, N.C.—Duke came out and did what it was supposed to do Friday—crush Robert Morris. But during the win, a few of the Blue Devils' old demons showed up.

After getting rocked by Notre Dame the last time out in the ACC semifinals, Duke made sure it was the ones throwing the haymakers Friday. Despite giving the Colonials a glimmer of hope in the opening three minutes, the Blue Devils closed the first half playing the type of basketball that earned them the No. 1 seed and went into the locker room with a 42-25 lead.

"Out of the gates, we were ready to go," freshman guard Tyus Jones said. "Quinn [Cook] hit three threes, [Jahlil Okafor] got some easy looks. It was just one of those things where we were locked in and focused and were ready to go out there."

Cook and Okafor combined for 25 in the half, as Okafor was 3-of-4 from the field against and the senior captain drained four 3-pointers to give the Blue Devils the 17-point lead.

The early shooting spree from Cook was a welcome sign after he put up a 2-of-12 shooting performance against the Fighting Irish. The senior captain opened the game making five straight shots—four of them 3-pointers—and added a swagger Duke will need to find as a team if it hopes to capture its fifth national title banner April 6.

But more than his hot hand from behind the arc, the Blue Devils welcomed back their emotional leader after he was drained due to illness in the ACC semifinal loss. One of the most notable—and visible—signs of Cook's leadership comes from his celebrations. And the Cook Snarl, along with his stroke, was in prime form Friday.

"Notre Dame was maybe one or two of the only games where he didn’t shoot what he wanted to," Okafor said. "He’s been on fire for this entire season. But we see him doing that—out there shooting threes, making the snarl, talking to us—it gets me going, it gets my teammates going to and gives us a lot of confidence."

But even with Cook and Okafor's standout performances in the opening 20 minutes, the Blue Devils were far from perfect Friday.

The game—like all games in the Big Dance—was not one the Blue Devils could coast through after amassing their large first-half lead. And Duke would find that out five minutes into the second period of play.

The first sign of slippage came with 15:31 remaining, as Okafor swept in a long pass from Tyus Jones on a fastbreak and took two steps toward the basket before botching a reverse slam dunk. The ball careened off the back-iron, was rebounded by Robert Morris' Marcquise Reed and led to an easy layup for Lucky Jones. And although Duke's Matt Jones would answer with a three, the momentum had somehow swung away from the Blue Devils.

Trailing by 20, the Colonials went on a tear, led by a pair of 3-pointers from Rodney Pryor—who had a game-high 23 points. Robert Morris had failed to give its rabid fans anything to cheer about up to that point in the game, so when it clawed its way to make it a 10-point ballgame, they rose to their feet.

Joining them in standing up was a visibly irate Krzyzewski.

With 12:19 remaining, he called a 30-second timeout to get his team back on track. Okafor and Pryor would then trade buckets before the game went to the under-12 media timeout. That's when things finally sunk in and heated up for Duke.

"We really came together and responded," redshirt junior Marshall Plumlee said. "There was a timeout and we got a little emotional. Every team here is capable of winning. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t be here. It can turn around just like that. We have to be ready to respond so I’d say it came from emotion and drive in the timeout."

Out of the media timeout, freshman Justise Winslow finally broke through after being held without a field goal for the first 30 minutes. The rookie swingman nailed a deep 3-pointer from the right wing then converted a layup in traffic to make it a 15-point game. From that point on, Robert Morris would not close the gap past 12, and Duke went on to win by 29.

As the Blue Devils move forward in the tournament, not every team will be as woefully undersized and out-skilled as the Colonials. Duke will not be able to coast thanks to two players being the opposition's only scoring options. If the Blue Devils want to make it through and have a shot at playing in Houston and Indianapolis, Winslow and Cook will have to do what they did for a full 40 minutes and Duke will need to learn from its mistakes, even in blowout victories.

The young squad was lulled to sleep by the Colonials and needed a wake-up call—and it was better to come now before No. 8 seed San Diego State possibly delivers one that has a longer lasting effect Sunday.