I got up Friday morning hoping to see Jayson Tatum play in his first meaningful game in a Duke uniform but alas that did not happen – more on that later. What did happen as expected was Duke giving a lot of guys time who very well may not get much later. In relief of Duke’s star freshman trip (Harry Giles, Jayson Tatum & Marques Bolden) Duke fans got to see players like Jack White, Justin Robinson and Antonio Vrankovic. Those lesser known players made the most of their opportunity as Duke ran over Marist 94-49 in their season opener.
Duke began the game hot from beyond the arc going 6-14 for 42.9% in the first half, they fired on all cylinders for most of the first half but did go on a few lulls in scoring when they seemed to do much more individual shot hunting rather than setting in an offensive flow.
Duke was paced by freshman point guard Frank Jackson who score 18 points on 6 of 15 shooting, Jackson also had 4 assists, 4 steals and 2 turnovers. Duke also got 16 a piece from Luke Kennard and Grayson Allen. Chase Jeter and Matt Jones rounded out the double-figure scoring with 11 each.
I got up Friday morning hoping to see Jayson Tatum play in his first meaningful game in a Duke uniform but alas that did not happen – more on that later. What did happen as expected was Duke giving a lot of guys time who very well may not get much later. In relief of Duke’s star freshman trip (Harry Giles, Jayson Tatum & Marques Bolden) Duke fans got to see players like Jack White, Justin Robinson and Antonio Vrankovic. Those lesser known players made the most of their opportunity as Duke ran over Marist 94-49 in their season opener.
Duke began the game hot from beyond the arc going 6-14 for 42.9% in the first half, they fired on all cylinders for most of the first half but did go on a few lulls in scoring when they seemed to do much more individual shot hunting rather than setting in an offensive flow.
Duke was paced by freshman point guard Frank Jackson who score 18 points on 6 of 15 shooting, Jackson also had 4 assists, 4 steals and 2 turnovers. Duke also got 16 a piece from Luke Kennard and Grayson Allen. Chase Jeter and Matt Jones rounded out the double-figure scoring with 11 each.
The Good:
Duke put points on the board and sans a couple of droughts did so at an impressive clip. Duke had 27 bench points in this game which means they got contributions from guys that are not used to seeing much in the way of playing time – this will only help Duke as the season grinds on and players, especially freshmen, start to hit the wall. Duke will hopefully be able to leverage these early games into quality minutes from it’s bench in ACC play. Frank Jackson and Chase Jeter could have a huge impact on whether this Duke team in its current form can reach its potential. They are gaining valuable knowledge in these early games and the confidence of sophomore Chase Jeter has to be on the uptick as he is getting the lions share of inside minutes for Duke.
The Bad:
While it almost seems stupid to pick apart a nearly 50 point win everything must be noted in context. There are some concerning things aside from just this team not having its full compliment of players. Obviously Duke cooling off in the second half of this game shooting only 25% from range in the second stanza. Also concerning for this team is the lack of assists. 13 assists for the entire game isn’t a good look and is indicative of a team that is very much still learning and not really running offense in the most efficient way in my opinion. As a comparison Lonzo Ball from UCLA had 11 assists on his own in their opener and as a team they had 29. Duke will have to improve those numbers as the competition gets tougher.
Another potential issue for Duke is getting Amile Jefferson more touches. Jefferson is a 5th year senior and the emotional and defensive leader of this Duke team and only got 4 shot attempts. Jefferson has worked hard in the off-season to not only get healthy but to increase his offensive productivity and 5 points shows that this team is not looking enough to the paint. Jefferson did pull down 9 rebounds but Duke needs to utilize his ability to manufacture space and worm his way into the paint.
Duke put points on the board and sans a couple of droughts did so at an impressive clip. Duke had 27 bench points in this game which means they got contributions from guys that are not used to seeing much in the way of playing time – this will only help Duke as the season grinds on and players, especially freshmen, start to hit the wall. Duke will hopefully be able to leverage these early games into quality minutes from it’s bench in ACC play. Frank Jackson and Chase Jeter could have a huge impact on whether this Duke team in its current form can reach its potential. They are gaining valuable knowledge in these early games and the confidence of sophomore Chase Jeter has to be on the uptick as he is getting the lions share of inside minutes for Duke.
