With Kyrie Irving missing his first of what could be many games Duke took on a Bradley team who was also missing its leading scorers. Duke out of the gate looked pretty anemic on offense only managing to rack up 32 points in the first half. Duke abandoned it’s new high powered run and run hard offense for a more deliberate look, more half-court grinding it out look. Nolan Smith took over the point guard duties for Kyrie Irving and dished out 10 assists. The only drawback to Nolan running the point is that his offense struggled, only managing 2 points (coming from the foul line), and 0-8 shooting.
Coach K used his bench pretty significantly with only Tyler Thornton getting less than double figure minutes (8).
Duke got a gigantic performance but sophomore Andre “Splash” Dawkins who scored a career high 28 points in his first start. Dawkins shot 8-14 from the 3 point arc and 10 0f 17 overall. Dawkins seemed to be channeling his inner J.J. Redick in this game and it seemed that whatever shot he took was going to go in.
Redick & Dawkins
Somewhat eclipsed by Dawkins big night were the workman-like performance by Kyle Singler who shot the ball well and had 17 points on 5 of 10 shooting. Kyle also had 6 rebounds and 4 assists.
Miles Plumlee had his best game of the season with 14 points with array of moves to the basket, Miles shot 7-7 and outplayed his brother Mason who only managed 2 points, 3 assists and 7 rebounds.
It will have to be another herculean coaching effort by Coach K to chance up styles while Kyrie Irving is shelved with a toe injury. Duke while not playing particularly well in this game has the pieces to still be the team to beat. It will be interesting to see if Coach K sticks with the lineup of Dawkins, Smith, Singler, and the Plumlees or tries to get Seth Curry at the point moving Nolan back to the 2 guard.
Word on Kyries injury is there may be ligament damage and while there could be a quick heal it is possible that Kyrie is done for the year. As information flows in we will update. In the meantime the season just got a little more interesting and difficult.
| Bradley Braves | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| STARTERS | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS |
| Jordan Prosser, F | 23 | 0-4 | 0-0 | 3-4 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Will Egolf, F-C | 31 | 5-12 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 11 |
| Dodie Dunson, G | 38 | 4-14 | 0-4 | 0-2 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| Andrew Warren, G | 34 | 3-9 | 1-3 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 7 |
| Anthony Thompson, C | 16 | 0-4 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| BENCH | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS |
| Jake Eastman, G | 16 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Charonn Woods, G | 3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Milos Knezevic, F | 4 | 1-2 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Jr Walt Lemon, NA | 35 | 6-14 | 2-4 | 0-0 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 14 |
| TOTALS | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS | |
| 20-61 | 4-13 | 4-8 | 11 | 32 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 13 | 13 | 48 | ||
| 32.8% | 30.8% | 50.0% | ||||||||||
| Duke Blue Devils | ||||||||||||
| STARTERS | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS |
| Kyle Singler, F | 30 | 5-10 | 4-9 | 3-3 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 17 |
| Miles Plumlee, F | 21 | 7-7 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 14 |
| Nolan Smith, G | 30 | 0-8 | 0-4 | 2-4 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Andre Dawkins, G | 31 | 10-17 | 8-14 | 0-0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28 |
| Mason Plumlee, F | 27 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| BENCH | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS |
| Seth Curry, G | 26 | 3-7 | 2-4 | 0-0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 |
| Ryan Kelly, F | 16 | 2-3 | 1-1 | 3-3 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 8 |
| Tyler Thornton, G | 8 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Josh Hairston, F | 11 | 2-5 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| TOTALS | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS | |
| 30-60 | 15-33 | 8-10 | 8 | 35 | 22 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 83 | ||
| 50.0% | 45.5% | 80.0% | ||||||||||
Technicals: None
Officials: Tim Comer, Jerry Heater, Mike Eades
Attendance: 9,314
