Beyond the Arc: Duke men's basketball vs. Virginia Commonwealth

Duke rebounded from its first loss of the season with a gritty performance against Virginia Commonwealth to win 79-71 in the semifinals of the 2K Classic at Madison Square Garden. The Blue Devils trailed for much of the contest, but came back from a six-point deficit in the second half with a 24-6 run. Sophomore Grayson Allen came off the bench for the first time this season and posted a career-high 30 points after a forgettable performance Tuesday against Kentucky. Freshman point guard Derryck Thornton started in his place and had 19 points in the best game of his young career.

Revisiting the three keys to the game:

• Take care of the basketball: Duke had 14 turnovers in the game, which isn’t an alarmingly high number against an aggressive defensive team like the Rams. But Virginia Commonwealth killed the Blue Devils in transition in the first half, capitalizing on Duke’s seven turnovers before the break with 13 points. The Blue Devils’ transition defense improved dramatically in the second half, when they only allowed two points off seven more turnovers.
• Breaking out in transition: The box score says the Rams outscored Duke 8-2 on fast break points, but it sure seemed like both teams had a lot more transition buckets than that. Virginia Commonwealth continually beat the Blue Devil defense down the floor after turnovers and long rebounds in the first half, but Allen and Thornton both did an impressive job of leading primary and secondary breaks to get some easy points for Duke as well.
• Ignite from the perimeter: Allen and Thornton combined to shoot 6-of-11 from beyond the arc, rebounding from cold shooting performances in the loss against Kentucky. The rest of the team shot just 2-of-12 from long distance, but junior Matt Jones knocked down both of these treys to help the Blue Devils pull away in the second half.

Three key plays

• 5:03, first half: With Duke trailing by two points, Allen grabbed a defensive board and went coast-to-coast in six seconds, freeing himself with an impressive in-and-out move on the wing to begin his drive to the basket. He finished a tough layup in the paint through a foul and converted on the free throw to give the Blue Devils the lead.
• 13:58, second half: The most important sequence of the contest began when the Rams held a 52-46 lead and Allen came from behind to block Rams guard Korey Billbury. Freshman Luke Kennard lost the ball as he drove to the basket on the ensuing Duke possession, but it took a fortuitous bounce off the bottom of the backboard into the hands of Amile Jefferson. The senior forward then found Thornton for a wide-open 3-pointer at the top of the key. This trey completed a critical five-point turnaround and started Duke’s game-changing 24-6 run.
• 8:53, second half: Allen zipped a pass to Matt Jones on the right wing for an open 3-pointer, which Jones calmly drained to continue his hot shooting stretch to start the season. This gave the Blue Devils a 65-58 advantage, and the Rams did not get closer than six points the rest of the way.

Three key stats:

• Virginia Commonwealth whistled for 27 fouls: Several of these fouls came in the final minute with the Rams intentionally putting Duke on the line, but they struggled to stay in front of the Blue Devils’ ball-handlers all game. Allen and Thornton both drew several hand-check calls and blocking fouls to help put Duke in the bonus early in both halves. The Blue Devils shot just 19-of-34 from the line, but the sheer quantity made a big difference compared to Virginia Commonwealth's 9-of-13 free-throw shooting.
• Duke holds the Rams 34.4 percent shooting from the field in the second half: Virginia Commonwealth shot 58.1 percent in the first half with several easy transition layups, but when the Blue Devils limited fast break opportunities in the final 20 minutes, the Rams struggled to create good shots in their half-court offense. They had a hard time penetrating into the paint and shot just 2-of-9 on 3-pointers in this frame, with many of these shots coming late in the shot clock after strong defensive possessions by Duke.
• Four players log at least 30 minutes for Duke: The Blue Devils’ rotation in big games is starting to take shape, and it doesn’t include a lot of people right now. All seven players that saw the floor for Duke played at least 20 minutes, and Allen, Thornton, Jones and Jefferson played more than 30. Highly-touted freshman Chase Jeter never got off the bench. It will be interesting to see how fresh the Blue Devils are when they play Georgetown for the 2K Classic championship Sunday afternoon.

And the Duke game ball goes to… Grayson Allen