LONDON -- While the rest of the college basketball world woke up fresh off another round of Midnight Madness, the men's basketball
team got its season underway, beating Racing Basket Antwerpen
96-71 in the first game of the International Challenge Series at the
Crystal Palace National Sports Centre in London.
After a rough first quarter--the game was played according to FIBA
International rules--in which Duke was outscored 27-19, the Blue
Devils bounced back behind senior Dahntay Jones' sharp
shooting and tight defense. Jones, who lead Duke with 21 points,
drained a pair of treys from the right corner within 16 seconds of
each other to cap off a 26-7 run and give the Blue Devils a 45-34
lead.
Duke would never relinquish the lead, holding the top team in the
Belgium League to only nine points in the second quarter.
"I thought we played with a lot of enthusiasm," head coach Mike
Krzyzewski said. "We gave up 27 points in the first ten minutes and
only 44 in the next 30. We began charging down balls and we
started playing defense-we should be a good defensive team,
we have a lot of depth and athleticism."
In the second half, Duke continued its solid play, experimenting
with different plays and lineups. Krzyzewski, who was much more
animated on the bench than usual, said that he was using the four
games as a teaching session, sometimes calling time outs
simply to explain plays and moves to his young team.
"When you have a younger team, you talk less on the court than you
need to," Krzyzewski said. "They only understand so much, so this
was a valuable experience for teaching."
The game was the first showing for Duke's highly touted freshman
class, a class considered by many to be the best ever recruited.
Both Shavlik Randolph and Shelden Williams started in their Blue
Devils debuts, with Randolph pouring in 19 points and seven
boards and Williams finishing with eight and two. Sean Dockery
was also impressive, racking up 11 points on 5-for-8 shooting and
four assists in 18 minutes.
The Blue Devils, who sold out the rarely frequented 3,000 person
stadium, play their next game at 5 p.m. British Summer Time
against the London Towers, the British Basketball League's Southern Conference Champions last season.
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