For most players, their first career start is a mixed bag—a combination of nerves and excitement before the opening whistle, along with some good plays on the court to balance out a few inexperienced mistakes.
Somebody forgot to tell Grayson Allen this was his first career start.
The sophomore guard picked up right where he left off in April’s national championship game—when he scored 16 points in Duke’s victory against Wisconsin—scoring 26 points to lead the No. 5 Blue Devils past Siena 92-74 in Friday night’s season opener at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Senior captain Amile Jefferson was the other big offensive contributor for Duke, tying a career-high with 19 points and adding 12 rebounds to notch his first double-double of the year.
“[There were] no nerves. It’s different by the fact that you get right into the game, there’s no sitting on the bench and getting yourself ready,” Allen said. “You have to be ready from the jump. But for me, it’s just the same mindset from the end of last year to this year—just keep attacking and be aggressive.”
Allen nearly outscored the Saints by himself in the first half—he had 20 compared to Siena's 27 after 20 minutes—and showcased a full offensive arsenal throughout the game, swishing home arcing 3-pointers, converting nifty drives to the basket and throwing down a few thunderous dunks that sent the hometown Cameron Crazies into a frenzy.
He finished a point shy of tying his career high from last year's Senior Night game against Wake Forest, when he actually did outscore the Demon Deacons in the first half. After seeing performances like that from Allen, his teammates said they were not at all surprised to see another scoring binge.
“I talked to [Allen] before the game. I said, ‘Grayson, you got me with something special tonight. I just feel it,’” redshirt sophomore Sean Obi said. “And he gave me 26. After he scored he looked at me right on the bench and he just smiled.”
Despite suffering injuries in the preseason, captains Amile Jefferson and Matt Jones—the only Blue Devils with starting experience—both took their normal spots on the floor for the opening tip Friday. Jefferson scored the first bucket of the game for Duke (1-0) with a put-back layup on the team’s first possession, setting the tone for a strong performance throughout the night.
As he often does, Jefferson—whose effort Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski called “sensational”—made several contributions that are not immediately apparent in the box score. The 6-foot-9 forward directed the Blue Devil defense and guarded the opposing center when graduate student Marshall Plumlee had to sit with early foul trouble—as well as racking up nine attempts from the free throw line as Duke pushed its way into the bonus early on in both halves.
Jefferson and Allen combined for eight points to spark a 13-0 run midway through the first half after the Blue Devils found themselves trailing for a brief moment. The Duke defense—which employed a primarily man-to-man scheme after experimenting with different zone looks in the preseason—held the Saints (0-1) scoreless for more than five minutes during this crucial stretch that catapulted the Blue Devils to a 17-point halftime lead.
“You can feel the energy, but at the same time I can’t expect to do something like that every night,” Allen said. “So I have to find other ways to bring Cameron to life and our team to life.”
Siena struggled to get open looks on the perimeter against Duke’s lengthy lineup, but still ended up shooting 42 percent from the field, led by point guard Marquis Wright's 20 points.
Friday’s game marked the debut of Duke’s top-ranked recruiting class—shooting guard Luke Kennard, swingman Brandon Ingram, center Chase Jeter and point guard Derryck Thornton. Only Ingram made his way into the starting lineup, but the other three rookies saw plenty of action off the bench, and Thornton ran the offense at the point for a good portion of the game.
All four freshmen showed flashes, but struggled from the field and combined to shoot just 29 percent for the game.
“Right now, it’s not that our freshmen are…selfish or anything, but they hang their hats a little bit too much [on] whether or not the ball goes in,” Krzyzewski said. “It didn’t go in so there’s not talk. It’s just a matter of getting maturity in that regard and I told them afterwards. I asked them, ‘Did Marshall or Amile ever say anything to Brandon, like when he missed, like ‘Don’t shoot?’ No they didn’t—they said ‘Keep shooting’. So they are surrounded by that and they need to just dive in.”
Duke returns to the hardwood Saturday when it hosts Bryant at 8 p.m. before heading to Chicago for a showdown with No. 2 Kentucky Tuesday night.
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