Duke basketball vs. Delaware updates

Duke 88, Delaware 50 (final): As stellar as the starters looked in the first half, Duke's bench players looked less than solid at the end of today's blowout. With the blowout lead allowing them freedom on offense, Murphy, Hairston and Jefferson frequently drove to hoop but committed too many turnovers and failed to convert on a number of attempts that should have resulted in points.

In his crowd pleasing appearance, Zafirovski added a bucket, a block and a rebound but missed an open lay up and both his free throws.

Duke 83, Delaware 39 (3:48, second half): One of the loudest ovations of the day came with a little over four minutes left in the game, and was spurred by a big block from Todd Zafirovski. After listening to "Put in Todd" chants for a couple minutes, Coach K finally inserted the walk-on senior with about 5:30 left in the game.

Led by Amile Jefferson with 12, Duke's bench now has 24 points on the game.

Duke 77, Delaware 35 (7:14, second half): With the game in hand despite a fair amount of time left, Coach K decided to sit Mason Plumlee and Ryan Kelly, likely for the game. Plumlee has 18 points and 11 rebounds while Kelly will likely finish with 18 points on a 8-for-13 shooting effort.

All eyes will now be on the three bench players—Murphy, Jefferson, and Hairston–along with Tyler Thorton as the Blue Devils attempt to close out the blowout win.

Duke 63, Delaware 29 (11:57, second half): Without anyone over 6-foot-9, Delaware has struggled to contain Duke's big men. Mason Plumlee and Ryan Kelly have combined for 34 of Duke's 63 points and the Blue Devils have 26 points in the paint so far.

The size advantage has carried over to the other side of the court as well, as the Blue Hens have just 12 points in the paint and have largely been suffocated around the hoop on offense.

Despite Thorton's effort and Mason Plumlee's size and skill, Delaware has more offensive rebounds (five) than the Blue Devils (four). Plumlee has been dominant on both side of the court, getting good looks on offense seemingly at will while preventing the Blue Hens' big men from doing the same. He has 13 points and nine rebounds in 18 minutes of play. He has reverted to his old ways at the line, though, missing three free throws in eight attempts.

Ryan Kelly's mid-range jumper has been on tonight—he is 6-for-8 from inside the arc and has utilized a good pump-fake to make space when necessary. He is also 1-for-3 from three-point land and leads the Blue Devils with 15 points.

Notable halftime stats:

Duke 36, Delaware 13 (3:25, first half): The Blue Devils have been able to find Mason Plumlee inside with ease—he has drawn back to back fouls after being fed the ball in great position inside the key.

A thorn in the side of the Blue Devils in recent games, second-chance opportunities are plaguing both teams so far. Despite having the size to block or at least contest any Blue Hen shot attempt around the basket, Duke has allowed Delaware to grab four offensive boards.

Duke 29, Delaware 11 (6:49, first half): Ryan Kelly and Mason Plumlee are taking the majority of the teams shots and have a combined 18 points.

The three bench players (Hairston, Murphy, and Jefferson) continue to see time but have made some mistakes. Hairston and Jefferson both have two fouls and Murphy let a pass from Sulaimon sail past his hands and out of bounds, making Sulaimon visually frustrated.

Duke 20, Delaware 7 (11:52, first half): With Duke holding the early lead and Seth Curry on the bench, Alex Murphy, Amile Jefferson and Josh Hairston were subbed into the game after the first media timeout. Hairston quickly picked up a couple fouls and was benched, but the other two remain in the game. It looks like Couch K will be relying on his bench more today than he has in recent games, which was very little.

The Blue Devils have limited the Blue Hens ability to get anything going on offense, but Delaware isn't helping itself either. After taking a timeout at the 13-minute mark to review the play, the officials ruled that Kyle Anderson's elbow to Hairston's nose warranted a technical foul. The tech came during a Delaware possession and gave the Blue Devils the ball and two free-throws, of which Hairston hit one.

Duke 16, Delaware 7 (13:50, first half): The Blue Devils jumped out to an early lead this afternoon, scoring nine of the game's first 11 points. Ryan Kelly scored the first two buckets of the game, Mason Plumlee had seven points, four rebounds and one dunk, and Rasheed Sulaimon nailed a three in transition.

Delaware's first points came on a second-chance opportunity, and its other two buckets were a three and a jumper in transition. The Blue Hens had a hard time getting many good looks from their half-court set on offense as Duke put pressure on their ball handlers well outside the arc.

Pregame: Welcome folks and thanks for tuning into tonight’s action between No. 2 Duke and Delaware at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Follow along here for analysis and @dukebasketball for live updates of the action with tipoff set for 2:07 p.m.

 

Starters

Duke: G Quinn Cook, G Tyler Thorton, G Rasheed Sulaimon, F Ryan Kelly, F Mason Plumlee

Delaware: G Devon Saddler, G Terrell Rogers, G Kyle Anderson, F Carl Baptiste, F Jamelle Haggins

Here are some pregame notes:

• Senior guard Seth Curry will not play in today's game due to the left ankle injury he aggravated in the second half of the Blue Devils win over Ohio State Wednesday. Junior Tyler Thorton will likely start in place of Curry.
• This game marks just the second meeting between Blue Devils and Blue Hens. Duke won the teams' first meeting, beating Delaware 79-73 in Cameron in 1995.
• The Blue Devils’ forehead today reads, "DELAWHAT?"