Duke men's basketball shakes rust off against the Bearcats in first exhibition game

<p>Although Tre Jones' defense continued to shine, his offensive game was limited.</p>

Although Tre Jones' defense continued to shine, his offensive game was limited.

Locked up was an understatement, as Duke put the handcuffs on its opponents early on. 

However, it seemed as though the Blue Devils got lost on the way out of Alcatraz, underperforming on the offensive side as well with a plethora of missed shots and turnovers.

Duke defeated Northwest Missouri State 69-63 Saturday night, with a suffocating defense leading the charge in a not-so-pretty first battle of the year in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Numerous mental errors on offense and a surprisingly limited desire to attack the basket kept the Blue Devils from scoring in bunches, but their halfcourt defense led by Jones and junior Jordan Goldwire made it hard for the Bearcats to keep up in the second half.

“[The Bearcats] didn't come here to lose. They came here to win,” Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “That's how they played and that was a big time game for us.”

Though it’s usually a given that Duke will blowout a Divison II opponent in its first exhibition game of the year, the Bearcats did not lay down for Duke, keeping their deficit to just six points at the half. While it certainly seemed as though the Blue Devils would overpower NW Missouri State, with an 11-2 run to open the game, long scoring droughts for both squads allowed the Bearcats to crawl back into the game. 

If the Blue Devils answered any questions, they made it clear that if Duke is going to win games this year, it will do so through hard-nose defense and fastbreak opportunities. Duke fans are used to seeing Jones harass opposing point guards from baseline to baseline, making their lives in Cameron that much more difficult. However, Jones had some help against the Bearcats, with freshman Wendell Moore also playing full-court defense on his man. 

Moore, who received the starting lineup nod, finished the game with three steals, showing his worth on the defensive side of the ball. However, he also finished the game going 2-for-11 from the field, and could not find the bottom of the net in a halfcourt offensive setting.

Jones also made his money on defense, continually forcing turnovers and pushing the ball up to his teammates. Against NW Missouri State’s 3-2 zone, Jones’ less-than-desirable jumpshot did not impress, as he missed all three of his shots from beyond the arc. However, his defensive pressure paid off, as he earned fast break layup after fast break layup to finish the game with 18 points. With Duke shooting only 42.2 percent from the field as a team, Jones did not have many opportunities to effectively run the floor as a true point guard, ending the game with only two assists.

“It was a learning experience for sure for all of us,” Jones said. “There's a lot of good things that we took from the game but a lot of things we can improve on as well.”

As for the Blue Devil freshmen, well, they looked like freshmen. Vernon Carey Jr. left the game early with two offensive fouls and Matthew Hurt got outmanned in the paint, only finishing with four rebounds. For a team that needs an offensive output from its freshmen in order to win games, Hurt and Carey have to be more poised down low. 

Hopefully for Duke, its opening performance was truly a warm-up game. The Blue Devils forced 21 turnovers and held the Bearcats to 63 points, but against better teams, their offensive showing just won’t cut it. But because it’s just an exhibition game, Duke earns the benefit of the doubt, for now. 

“I thought defensively we played pretty well the whole game,” Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “We are a very average shooting team, but we should be a good finishing team. And around the basket, we left a lot of points on the court, and we should have scored a lot more points.”

Duke plays its second exhibition game against Fort Valley State Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

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