No upset this time.
A year after the Duke lost to an unranked Temple squad, the No. 2 Blue Devils never let the Owls sniff victory in this one in a 90-67 victory. Duke built a double-digit lead early in the first half and never let Temple bring the margin within 10 the rest of the way.
See below for a partial live blog from beat writer Daniel Carp. Check for a full game story with quotes from coaches and players.
Duke 37, Temple 24 (3:46, first half): The offensive pace slowed significantly following the previous media timeout, but it appears nothing can slow Seth Curry down at this point. Curry stepped out and stroked another jumper from the top of the key and was very fired up as he headed to the bench.
Plumlee’s off day at the line continues, splitting another set of free throws. He is now 4-of-8 from the charity stripe on the afternoon.
The Owls have finally started to break through Duke’s defense with some solid ball movement. The Blue Devils have looked susceptible in the first half on backdoor cuts. Temple still searching for an answer inside, and it does not help that Anthony Lee, Scootie Randall and Will Cummings have each picked up their second personal foul.
Duke 29, Temple 14 (7:57, first half): The insertion of Amile Jefferson into the lineup paid dividends for the Blue Devils. Playing against a Temple program from his native Philadelphia, Jefferson fought hard on the offensive glass, gathering his own miss for a putback plus the foul before being replaced by Ryan Kelly. His coaches seemed very pleased with his performance.
Mason Plumlee appears to be struggling from the free throw line this afternoon despite his much improved stroke this season. Plumlee is 3-for-6 from the charity stripe in the early going, including rare back-to-back misses, but continues to assert himself on the inside against Temple’s smaller frontcourt. He has seven points for the Blue Devils thus far and has pulled down a number of tough rebounds as well.
Temple forward Scootie Randall notched his first points of the afternoon just over 10 minutes into the contest. The Owls’ leading scorer at 16.7 points per contest, Randall has been guarded closely by Rasheed Sulaimon throughout the afternoon and has struggled to find looks at the basket.
Seth Curry adds yet another three from deep as the Blue Devils have now gone on an 11-2 run to push their advantage to 29-14.
Duke 18, Temple 12 (11:56, first half): Duke continues to be outmuscled on the boards as the Owls are not shying away from physical play inside. Despite being smaller at the forward spots than the Blue Devils, Temple has outhustled them on the glass in the early-going.
Tyler Thornton continued Duke’s impressive outside shooting to start the game, nailing another triple for Duke. Rasheed Sulaimon also found Mason Plumlee with an impressive feed for his first flush of the game.
Interior defense continues to be an issue for Duke. The Blue Devils looked to freshman Amile Jefferson off the bench for an early spark of energy. Plumlee will shoot free-throws when the action resumes, as Krzyzewski discusses how to contain Temple’s Khalif Wyatt with Thornton, his defensive specialist.
Duke 11, Temple 8 (15:04, first half): Both teams went inside early, with Mason Plumlee battling Temple’s Anthony Lee down low, but it was Lee who drew first blood for the Owls, driving to the hole to score the game’s first points. After Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson nailed a jumper over Ryan Kelly, Seth Curry showed the crowd that his ankle was feeling just fine, nailing a stepback three for Duke’s first points. Rasheed Sulaimon added a jumper from the corner of his own to give the Blue Devils a narrow 5-4 edge.
If the game’s opening minutes are any indication of thigns to come, it will be quite the battle down low between Plumlee and Lee, the only member of Temple’s starting lineup larger than 6-foot-6. Plumlee quickly exited the floor, however, replaced in the Duke lineup by Josh Hairston.
Sulaimon continued his impressive start with a drive to the hole plus the harm to give the Blue Devils an 8-4 advantage. The teams continued to play an up-tempo style, matching each other stride for stride on both ends of the floor. Hollis-Jefferson added an impressive putback jam to send the Owls into the first media timeout trailing 11-8. Head coach Mike Krzyzewski appears to be livid about the team’s rebounding early on.
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