After Slow Start Duke Beats Down Fairfield 109 – 59, Winslow Scores 18

Duke picks up the win 109 to 59 on short rest against Fairfield. This is exactly the type of early scheduling that should make this team better in March. Duke was ahead at the half by 14 but by all accounts wasn’t playing it’s best on either end. Obviously Duke was going to win the game but, it gave Coach K something to lay into his team about – and as expected they responded, going on run after run. Picking it up on both ends of the floor. Fairfield did come to play shooting the ball fairly well in the first half and beating the Duke press time and time again. Duke looked a step slow on defense but considering Fairfield also played yesterday it’s hard to blame fatigue.

Duke would get coached up and halftime and came out and turned on the gas. Duke would shoot over 65% for the game and over 40% from beyond the arc. The eventual undoing for Fairfield was their paltry 2 of 14 from beyond the arc. Duke had 4 players in double figures and also got 36 points from the bench.

One thing that I didn’t realize looking at the box score and pointed out by @TheBenSwain was that Rasheed Sulaimon played 28 minutes. Had 4 assists and a steal. Took 0 shots. Very interesting and even more so if by design.

The good:

Scoring seems to be coming in droves and it’s clear the offensive leaders on the season will be Jahlil Okafor who scored 17 points and also had 9 rebounds. The freshmen will have to shore up his turnover numbers (5) and also his free throw shooting (1-3). Quinn Cook was on fire, going 7 of 9 from the field and 3 of 4 from long distance. Cook also scored his 1,000th point as a Blue Devil. Cook also had 4 assists a steal and only 1 turnover. Continuing his aggressive offensive output Justise Winslow would lead all scores with 18 points, the freshman also had 6 boards and shot 60% from the field. Amile Jefferson stands to gain a lot from the presence of Jahlil Okafor being a low post threat, the junior will be able to benefit from the attention given to Okafor and also will  be the recipient of Okafors interior passing skills. Tonight Jefferson was a beast on the boards gathering 9 overall and scoring 15 points. Jefferson also stayed out of foul trouble which is huge for Duke. Freshman Tyus Jones did have 2 turnovers in the game but also dished out 5 assists to teammates. Jones did not shoot it well but did managed to grab 3 rebounds and 2 steals.

The bad:

Not a lot to really dislike in this game. Fairfield did have too many open shots and Duke did commit a lot of fouls for a team with an athletic and talent advantage. Duke will need to get more on the boards from Marshall Plumlee who was the tallest man on the court but only managed to pull down 1 rebound. The defensive lapses in the first half were more a function of a good initial game plan by Fairfield but Duke was caught out of position on more than one occasion.