NEW YORK—He shot just 2-of-11 against Kentucky. He started Friday night on the bench. But when Grayson Allen took the floor, the sophomore guard torched Virginia Commonwealth with another marquee performance.
Led by Allen's career-high 30 points, the Blue Devils defeated the Rams 79-71 Friday night at the 2K Classic at Madison Square Garden, bouncing back from a double-digit defeat against No. 2 Kentucky Tuesday at the Champions Classic. The Rams took a 39-38 lead into the locker room and led by as many as six early in the second half before Duke asserted itself and stretched its lead into double-figures.
Three days removed from a forgettable performance against the Wildcats in which he was routinely swatted and turned away at the rim by Kentucky's length, Allen drilled his first shot of the game and never looked back, attacking the rim and pushing the ball in transition.
“He was driving to score, not to get a shot off,” Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “He played spectacular, quite frankly. A lot of kids would question themselves, and he never did.”
Freshman Derryck Thornton made his first career start, taking Allen's spot in the starting lineup to give the Blue Devils (3-1) a true point guard on the floor to handle Virginia Commonwealth's hallmark pressure-oriented defense. The Chatsworth, Calif., native was also Duke's best offensive option early on—scoring seven points in the first half and finishing with a career-best 19—before Allen subbed in and poured in 15 before halftime.
Through the first 25 minutes, the Blue Devils could not find consistent scoring opportunities, and on the other end had no answer for Virginia Commonwealth's senior guard Melvin Johnson and junior forward Mo Alie-Cox. Johnson poured in 12 points in the first half on 5-of-6 shooting as the Rams shot 58.1 percent and capitalized on seven first-half Duke turnovers to hang with the defending national champions in the first 20 minutes.
Trailing 52-46 with 13:42 remaining, senior Amile Jefferson held the ball in the paint and was triple-teamed by a swarm of Rams, but he kicked it out to Thornton at the top of the arc, who looked around, saw that everyone was guarded, and fired a wide-open three.
He drilled it.
On the Blue Devils' next possession, Allen scored off a foul, and then Matt Jones—waving for the ball on the right side of the of the court—splashed home one of his three triples to hand Duke a 53-52 lead, capping a 7-0 Duke run. Virginia Commonwealth (2-1) responded, thanks to buckets from Ahmad Hamdy-Mohamaed and Jonathan Williams. But with the Blue Devils leading 57-55, freshman Luke Kennard followed his own miss to give Duke an extra possession, which culminated in another Allen 3-pointer.
Moments later, Jones—again waving his arms on the right side—nailed a triple while standing on the NBA 3-point line to stretch the lead once again. The late run by the Blue Devils came largely with starters Marshall Plumlee and Brandon Ingram on the bench as head coach Mike Krzyzewski employed a smaller lineup that included Jefferson down low with Jones, Thornton, Allen and Kennard on the perimeter against the speedy Rams.
“Having two big guys in, it clogged the lane,” Krzyzewski said. "We just ran motion, and that gave our guys more room just to be basketball players.”
Tuesday night in Chicago, Allen, Kennard and Thornton shot just 3-of-22 from the field, as the Duke upperclassmen kept the contest close. But Friday in New York, Jones struggled in the first half and Alie-Cox outplayed graduate student Marshall Plumlee and Amile Jefferson in the first half.
But the underclassmen—particularly Allen and Thornton—stepped up to fill the void.
“It’s all about moving on,” Allen said. “Coming off the bench, it was nothing different than if I was starting. It’s the same aggressive mindset, attacking mindset and just bringing energy to the team.”
The Jacksonville, Fla., native has wavered between stellar and head-scratching performances this season. Friday, he played with a palpable sense of comfort, smiling after drawing a foul in the first half and closing out the first frame with another make from downtown.
Allen also put a devastating fake crossover on Virginia Commonwealth's Doug Brooks in transition with Duke trailing 28-26. He found open space after grabbing a defensive rebound, sidestepped Brooks and finished with a bucket and the foul.
The Blue Devils will take on Georgetown in the championship game of the 2K Classic Sunday at 1 p.m. after the Hoyas notched their first win of the year against Wisconsin earlier Friday.
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