In their first exhibition action of the season, the Blue Devils cruised past Virginia Union 114-50 Saturday in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
And although Duke's veterans performed impressively throughout, perhaps the biggest bright spot was the play of one of the newcomers.
Just two minutes into the game, freshman Miles Plumlee dropped in his second bucket of the contest off of a feed from Gerald Henderson. On the very next possession, the 6-foot-10 power forward hustled down the court, leaped through the air and swatted away a shot. With that, Duke was off and running and never looked back, thanks in large part to Plumlee's 14 points, three rebounds, three steals and two assists in 20 minutes of play.
"That was huge when I went out there," said Plumlee, who started in his first game. "It felt great. That's what I've been working for in practice, and it was a big deal for me. I definitely had the chills running out there."
Duke's tremendous size advantage allowed Plumlee to be so dominant. After being one of the smallest teams in the ACC last year, the Blue Devils' sheer strength and athleticism was too much for the Panthers to handle. Plumlee and 7-foot-1 junior Brian Zoubek capitalized by combining for five blocks.
Aside from Plumlee, the other Duke players initially had trouble finding their shots, particularly from behind the arc. The Blue Devils failed to connect on their first nine attempts from 3-point range and did not put one in until junior Jon Scheyer sank one 13 minutes into the opening period. Sophomore Kyle Singler, one of the team's most reliable 3-point shooters from last season, missed his first two attempts before sinking the crucial bucket that would spark the Blue Devils' streak of three in a row to close the half with a 48-17 advantage.
The first half was also defined by a constant rotation of players. Head coach Mike Krzyzewski opened the game without senior captain Greg Paulus in his starting five, and Paulus did not make an appearance on the court until six minutes in. After the game, though, Krzyzewski de-emphasized the importance of being one of the first five players on the floor.
"I don't like to say what a starting lineup is because I want everyone who plays to think of themselves as starters," Krzyzewski said. "One of the key things I learned in working with the Olympics is for us to speak our own language and not the language of everyone else. So if you want to say who is a starter and who is not, that's cool for us, but I'd rather have everyone on our team to have the ego of a starter. I'm not dancing around it.... When Greg comes off the bench, he's good enough to be a starter, because he is."
With Paulus off the court, it was the first time the Blue Devils looked to someone other than sophomore Nolan Smith to take his place. Scheyer, the versatile sixth man who had limited time at point guard last year, found himself holding the reins to the offense.
This expanded role, however, was not unexpected and was taken in stride.
"It's fine for me," Scheyer said. "I always feel my ballhandling has been a strength for me, and at certain times, I will be in that position, and I feel comfortable doing it. I think it can give us some real athletic lineups when Gerald [Henderson] or Elliot [Williams] or Dave [McClure] are all on the wings, and then I match up with the point guard on defense. It works out well sometimes."
With the game well in hand, Krzyzewski was able to empty his bench and give playing time to all the reserves with five minutes to go.
Williams, in particular, came alive and displayed his athletic ability at the end of the tilt. He hit two 3-pointers, slammed home a dunk and went 5-for-6 from the charity stripe to send Duke into the locker room with a satisfying start to the preseason.
"I am certainly pleased with our effort," Krzyzewski said. "I thought we played hard defensively the whole game. We obviously are the taller, more talented team and should win, but I thought our guys played every play hard, and that's what we're looking for."
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