NEW YORK—Grayson Allen was not himself Saturday afternoon at The World's Most Famous Arena.
Battling flu-like symptoms, Allen's availability prior to Duke's game against Utah at Madison Square Garden was very much in question. The sophomore gave it a go, but struggled from the floor, finishing 3-of-18 from the floor for seven points, well below his season average of 21.4 points per game.
With Allen not at his best and senior Amile Jefferson sidelined with a fractured right foot, the Blue Devils were far from full strength, and Utah too full advantage, avenging their Sweet 16 loss from a year ago with a 77-75 triumph.
It is no coincidence that an off game from Allen—Duke's go-to scorer ever since his 16-point breakout performance in last year's NCAA title game—spelled doom for Duke. In the Blue Devils' two losses, the aggressive guard shot a combined 5-for-29 from the floor. In all other games, he is shooting 59.8 percent.
But with Allen not close to 100 percent Saturday, head coach Mike Krzyzewski had to turn elsewhere for offense.
"Grayson’s been really sick for two days," Krzyzewski said. "I wasn’t sure if he was going to play with flu-like symptoms. He hasn’t eaten and he played 37 minutes. He played his heart out, but obviously not the same guy. He went 3-for-18, but some of our guys did some incredibly good things to give us an opportunity to win that game."
Chief among those other Blue Devils was Luke Kennard. The Franklin, Ohio, native scored a game-high 24 points and pulled down eight rebounds, taking the reins from an ailing Allen and delivering the intangible hustle plays to keep Duke afloat.
Kennard has struggled shooting the ball early in his freshman campaign, but Saturday's game may have been a coming-out party for the southpaw. He finished 5-of-9 from the floor—2-of-5 from downtown—and attacked the rim with a relentlessness more commonly seen from Allen. The aggression earned Kennard numerous trips to the free-throw line, where he converted 12 of his 13 attempts.
The freshman also delivered perhaps the most important play of Duke's comeback bid with just six seconds remaining in overtime. Duke trailed by six when freshman point guard Derryck Thornton flipped the ball to Kennard deep behind the arc, and he hoisted a shot that appeared to be a last-ditch effort for the Blue Devils.
Instead, Kennard sank the trey despite getting fouled in the process by Utah's Lorenzo Bonam. He converted the ensuing free throw, cutting the deficit to two and giving the Blue Devils a chance to win the game.
"We had to get up a quick three, and then he came out and fouled me. I was hoping it went in from there and it did," Kennard said. "We needed to get a quick three off, and that was just what Coach told us to do."
Kennard showed signs of an improved shooting stroke Nov. 29 against Utah State and heated up again Saturday, thanks to his active pursuit of his misses—the 6-foot-5 guard finished the game with a game-high five offensive rebounds. With just less than six minutes remaining in regulation, Kennard missed a contested shot from deep but charged the glass. He came away with the ball and quickly put it back up for a lay-up.
During another sequence, Kennard and Matt Jones teamed up to generate four looks on a single possession for the Blue Devils, culminating in a Kennard lay-up off a missed Allen triple.
Kennard found success with Allen-esque tactics much earlier in his freshman year than Allen himself did a season ago, but perhaps that fact is a consequence of circumstance. The shooting guard has been thrust into a more central role due to Duke's lack of depth. Now that Duke appears headed toward a seven-man rotation after the loss of Jefferson, the freshman will be needed for consistent scoring and rebounding moving forward.
"I knew that we just had to attack," Kennard said. "Coach was preaching it to us on the sideline, we were preaching it to each other out on the court, so attack was our main mentality towards the end of the game. We were in the bonus, so if we could draw a foul, we’d get to the free throw line. I had the ball in my hands, and my teammates trusted me with the ball in my hands. I got to the free throw line and knocked some shots down."
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