BLOOMINGTON, Ind.—After mastering the art of the comeback in their three-day stretch at the PK80 Invitational, the Blue Devils will look to reverse the role and hold on to a lead in a raucous environment.
Top-ranked Duke leads Indiana 42-38 at the half at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. The Blue Devils led by as many as six in the opening 20 minutes but struggled to separate from a pesky Indiana team.
Playing in their first true road game of the season, the Blue Devils used a hot start by freshman Trevon Duval to battle their early jitters. The point guard took advantage of his speed to get into the middle of the lane at will and finished a pair of early drives with floaters in the paint.
With Marvin Bagley III’s hot start to the season in the back of their minds, the Hoosiers have doubled the big man immediately on low-post touches. The Phoenix native used his vision to facilitate Duke’s offense out of the post and remained active on both ends of the floor. Bagley finished the half with 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting and six rebounds.
After seven early points for Duval to open the contest, the Blue Devils featured a balanced attack with Wendell Carter Jr. and senior Grayson Allen getting in on the action, each finishing with nine points. Carter took advantage of his size and the extra attention paid to Bagley to clean up the glass for the Duke.
Despite getting outrebounded by the Blue Devils 20-17, the Hoosiers have pieced together a scrappy first 20 minutes, with all eight players to take the floor getting on the scoreboard. Indiana shot only 3-of-15 from beyond the arc in the half, but turned the ball over only two times and pushed the ball against Duke’s lackluster transition defense.
Indiana had late chances to cut the margin before the half but connected on only three of their seven free throws.
Here are some observations from the first half:
- After closing out Sunday’s victory against Florida in man-to-man defense, the Blue Devils used the same scheme to open the contest versus the Hoosiers. Head coach Mike Krzyzewski switched to a zone late in the first half and forced Indiana to take perimeter jump shots.
- The Hoosiers have made life difficult for Duke’s offense with active hands in passing lanes and their hustle to 50-50 balls.
- The tandem of Bagley and Carter has continued to show good chemistry on the court, with Bagley feeding his classmate for an easy dunk off of high-low action.
- Krzyzewski showed trust in his freshman backcourt in the first half, as he left Duval and Gary Trent Jr. on the court with two fouls with more than six minutes to go before halftime.
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