Taylor King 13, Eastern Kentucky 12.
This wasn't the halftime score posted on the Cameron Indoor Stadium scoreboard--but in light of the freshman sharpshooter's breakout game, it certainly would have been accurate.
King stole the show Sunday, pouring in a team-high 27 points, a record for a reserve player, to lead the No. 13 Blue Devils (6-0) to a 78-43 win over the Colonels (2-3) at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The record previously had been shared by five players, including Jeff Capel and Luol Deng, at 25.
"Taylor's performance was just terrific," head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "He really did a good job and gave us a lift."
The 6-foot-7 freshman, who played limited minutes during Duke's final two Maui Inviational contests-victories over Illinois and Marquette-made the most of his 21 minutes Sunday. King went 9-for-14 from the floor and 6-for-11 from 3-point territory in a performance that offered a tremendous shot in the arm to the young wing's confidence. His six makes from behind the arc match the most from a rookie, putting him in the company of Trajan Langdon and J.J. Redick.
King's first stint off the bench certainly showed that he was more than ready to play Sunday. Starting with a 3-pointer from the left corner at the 11:43 mark, King would work his way around the arc over the next 2:12 to score nine points off three triples-nailing one from the right corner before rising up to hit another from the top of the key.
King's quick barrage of points gave Duke a commanding 18-5 lead just before the eight-minute media time out and ignited the Cameron faithful, who broke out in boisterous chants of "Taylor's Winning."
"When the first one went in, I felt like if maybe I keep shooting, I'll get a groove and maybe I'll get into the zone," King said.
The 9-0 run came as a relief to a Duke team that struggled in the early going to impose the fast-paced running attack that propelled them to a Maui Invitational title just days earlier. Despite these difficulties, the Blue Devils adapted when they started to feed the ball directly to their outside shooters.
"They did some things within their zone which really took away our penetration," Krzyzewski said. "We took our time with that for awhile until we started skip passing. You weren't going to get all the way to the basket with them today."
But with excellent outside shooting from the whole team-King was just one of five different Blue Devils- to hit a 3-pointer-the denial of the inside scoring did nothing to slow down undefeated Duke.
And despite early offensive struggles, the Duke defense was stout from the opening tip. The Blue Devils held the Colonels to more first half turnovers (18) than points (12), and tough perimeter defense held Eastern Kentucky to a season low 14 3-point attempts.
"Their offense puts you in a tough position, in that they spread you, but I thought that our defensive intensity for the whole 40 minutes was excellent," Krzyzewski said.
King is just one of four different Blue Devils to lead the team in scoring this season, providing balance that could prove invaluable as the schedule stiffens down the stretch.
"Everybody can break out in any game," King said. "It's just the way our offense is too, and how unselfish our team is."
NOTES:
Strong out of the gates
With Sunday's win, the Blue Devils now have opened their season by going 6-0 over the past four years and for the 14th time in Krzyzewski's tenure. Duke is also 3-0 against Ohio Valley conference opponents.
Captain Consistent
Senior DeMarcus Nelson scored 12 points on a 5-for-9 shooting effort Sunday, which gave him his fifth double-scoring performance in six games. The guard has reached double-digit point totals 48 times over his career.
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