Duke looked somewhat ordinary in the first 8 or so minutes of the game at Cameron against Elon tonight. Elon was holding their own against Duke, in fact at the 13:08 mark Duke had an 8 point lead but by halftime Duke shifted into a higher gear and built the lead to 39. Duke used a 46-9 run to effectively end the game at halftime against the Phoenix with a 70-31 lead on the way to a 105-66 victory.
Duke shot 50% from 3 point range and 58% overall in the first half on their way to burying Elon before the horn sounded signaling halftime.
Duke out rebounded Elon 28-10 in the first half and ended the game with a 53-20 advantage. Duke struggled on defense but poor shooting from Elon aided the Devils who surrendered shots at point-blank range that Elon, on multiple occasions, could not convert. Duke was able to overcome it’s defensive deficiencies with a blistering pace on the offensive end. Multiple ball-handlers and shooters with the absence of Amile Jefferson and spreading the court was key for Duke’s run.
Brandon Ingram led Duke in scoring for the game, scoring 18 in the first on his way to 28 for the game. Ingram scored per usual all over the floor – with silky smooth drives to the rim and catch and shoot long-range bombs that seem to barely touch the net. Ingram also pulled down 11 boards on his way to a double-double.
Luke Kennard followed up his career high against Utah with 18 against Elon, Kennard went 4-8 from beyond the arc and dished 4 assists. Duke got double figure efforts from Marshall Plumlee who scored 10, to go along with 11 rebounds and Derryck Thornton, who started his second straight game for the Devils, and scored 12 points and dished out 3 assists. Matt Jones also had 17 points and 3 assists on 6 of 11 shooting.
Most importantly for Duke was the play of Chase Jeter who becomes critical for Duke with Amile Jefferson being out for an undetermined amount of time. Jeter played a total of 15 minutes and scored 5 points and pulled down 5 rebounds. Jeter did have 3 turnovers but there was a lot to like about his performance. Sean Obi even got some shine with about 4 minutes left in the game and managed to pull down 3 rebounds. Obi seemed to run the floor well which may be a good sign for Duke going forward.
[x_video_embed type=”16:9″][/x_video_embed]Pluses:
- Coach K’s willingness to give time to Jeter and to a lesser extent Sean Obi, allowing the freshmen to get some looks on offense.
- Jeter getting productive minutes.
- Duke’s offensive efficiency was off the charts.
Minuses:
- Duke gave up too many point-blank looks at the rim
- Duke was out-hustled on too many occasions after a made basket
- second half sloppiness (7 turnovers)
- intensity level waned in the second half
