Ball movement critical to Blue Devils' torrid shooting night

<p>Grayson Allen scored a team-high 28 points, many of which came on open looks as a result of crisp ball movement.</p>

Grayson Allen scored a team-high 28 points, many of which came on open looks as a result of crisp ball movement.

In Friday' season opener, Duke committed 10 turnovers and dished out nine assists, a ratio that did not sit well with Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski.

After what Krzyzewski called a "tough feedback tape" session reviewing the Siena game Saturday morning, the Blue Devils took the floor again Saturday night against Bryant and made sure to avoid a similar performance.

It worked. All seven players who saw at least 20 minutes of action recorded an assist and Duke gave the ball away just six times in a 113-75 romp against Bryant Saturday night. A big part of that had to do with the Blue Devils' marked shooting improvement—Duke knocked down 13-of-26 3-pointers and shot 53.4 percent for the game. But it also had a lot to do with the return of rapid ball movement, pinging the ball around the perimeter to find the open teammate, whether he be spread around the arc or embedded on the low block.

"It doesn't matter if somebody's hit six, seven in a row—if we see we have a mismatch, then we go to it, but we play so freely, we play so together, it's like you don't even know who's scoring," said senior Amile Jefferson, whose 11 points and 11 rebounds accounted for his second straight double-double.

In the first half, the biggest beneficiary of that much-improved ball movement was Matt Jones. The junior shot a blistering 5-of-6 from behind the arc, finishing the period with a career-high 19 points.

Jones' final three triples came in the last 5:58 of the first half, helping stretch the Blue Devil lead from 12 to 23 after Duke had a little trouble initially creating some separation from a Bulldog squad that shot an equally impressive 13-of-26 from deep.

"When he got hot, I just kept looking for him. i think he hit maybe three in the last five minutes of that [first] half there, so as a team we're definitely looking for him," sophomore Grayson Allen said. "When a guy's hot like that, you want to keep feeding him."

Allen should know—he scored 26 Friday against Siena and capped off the weekend with a career-high 28 against Bryant, even though Saturday's outburst felt more subdued than his electrifying, dunk-filled season opener. The Jacksonville, Fla., native lived at the line, splashing home nine of his 10 attempts and driving the lane with the same reckless abandon. He added six of Duke's 17 assists for good measure.

Jones' hot shooting night appeared poised to extend into the second half, but the DeSoto, Texas, native was lifted just 3:02 into the second half and did not return. Jones injured his groin in Duke's exhibition opener against Florida Southern Oct. 30, and Krzyzewski was taking no chances with No. 2 Kentucky, Virginia Commonwealth and either No. 17 Wisconsin or Georgetown on the horizon.

"After a couple minutes I just decided not to play Matt just as a precaution," Krzyzewski said. "Not that he was hurt—he's not hurt—he's been not practicing as much because of the groin. We've got to make sure [he's ready], we've got a huge week coming up."

Allen and swingman Brandon Ingram more than picked up the slack. Duke's star freshman struggled mightily from downtown Friday night to the tune of 1-of-9, but drilled his first attempt Saturday and finished 4-of-6. Krzyzewski said Ingram's shot selection was much improved against the Bulldogs, a big reason for the better results.

The ball movement that led to those open looks often originated in the paint, with Jefferson or graduate student Marshall Plumlee drawing double-teams from an undersized, overmatched Bryant frontcourt. The kick-outs from the Duke big men then swung their way around the perimeter into the arms of waiting shooters.

"We kept getting little guys switched on us and when we would take that first dribble, they would come and double," Jefferson said. "Our guys are confident in each other and their game that they can find the open man."

On other nights, the Blue Devils will miss those open shots—such is life in the course of a 31-game regular season. But the talent and unselfishness up and down Duke's roster should enable Krzyzewski's squad to weather a poor shooting night and create open looks for the teammate with the hot hand at that particular moment.

"We're going to have guys who come out shot out of a cannon, and hopefully sometimes all five of our guys come out shot out of a cannon," Jefferson said. "But if we can get on someone's bus who's really pushing, who's really going, feeding off their energy, then it becomes contagious."

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