NEW YORK—At the half, No. 7 Duke trails Utah 33-30 Saturday at Madison Square Garden.
Although the Blue Devils have struggled in the post without the leadership of senior captain Amile Jefferson, their proficient perimeter play—led by nine points from junior Matt Jones and eight from freshman Brandon Ingram—has kept the game close. The Utes' sophomore Jakob Poeltl leads all scorers with 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting and five rebounds.
Duke struggled from the field in the opening minutes, hitting just 3-of-11 attempts by the first media timeout. Although freshmen Brandon Ingram and Derryck Thornton—who replaced freshman Luke Kennard in the starting lineup—started out strong on the outside, six easy points in the paint from the Utes' dominant center tied the game up at eight points apiece in the first five minutes.
Utah pulled away with the lead around the 10-minute mark, converting on a layup and a 3-pointer within a minute before Jones silenced the Utes crowd with a trey of his own.
Both teams suffered a bit of a scoring drought from there, though Poeltl was able to put up two points for Utah from the free-throw line. At the 6:48 mark, sophomore Grayson Allen missed a contested layup, but senior captain Marshall Plumlee responded with a put-back slam to break the hiatus and light up the crowd, which featured mostly Duke supporters.
Freshman Chase Jeter—who saw increased minutes after Jefferson's right foot injury—struggled to find his footing after coming off the bench after the under-16 media timeout. He contributed two rebounds in four minutes, but did not score after missing both of his free-throw attempts.
Freshman Luke Kennard was quiet for most of the half, but attacked the rim aggressively in the last few minutes and made 5-of-6 attempts from the free-throw line.
Here are some observations from the first half:
- Despite more of an opposing threat in the post this game, head coach Mike Krzyzewski chose a small-ball rotation down low featuring Ingram, Jeter, and senior captain Marshall Plumlee. Neither freshman Antonio Vrankovic nor redshirt sophomore Sean Obi saw time in the first half.
- The Blue Devils opened the game in a 2-3 zone on defense, and mixed in a 1-3-1 zone before settling back in man-to-man later on in the half.
- Junior Matt Jones spent some time at the four-spot in the first half. He's shown some range this season and played point guard on numerous occasions as well.
- In their previous two contests at Madison Square Garden this season, the Blue Devils trailed at the half, but came back in the second half to earn victories both times.
- Duke shot just 33 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes of play, compared to Utah's 52 percent mark.
- The Blue Devils struggled from the charity stripe in the opening half. Plumlee and Kennard were the only players to convert on a free throw on Duke's behalf, and the team went just 6-of-11 as a whole.
- Allen will enter the second half without any scoring contributions for the Blue Devils. He went 0-for-7 from the floor after reports indicated he was suffering from the flu.
- Duke is missing Jefferson's presence on the glass, where the Blue Devils trail the Utes 24-12 in rebounds.
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