LOUISVILLE, Ky.— In the final leg of a four-game stretch against ranked opponents, the Blue Devils appear to be headed for another close finish.
At the half, Duke leads Louisville 37-29 behind 19 first-half points from guard Grayson Allen. The sophomore hit six of his seven shots from the field, including 4-of-5 from beyond the arc.
Despite being ruled out before the game with a sprained left ankle, guard Matt Jones warmed up with the time and was available off the bench for head coach Mike Krzyzewski. But the junior never entered the game in the first half, as Krzyzewski relied on six players to carry the load for the Blue Devils.
Duke got off to a quick start behind a pair of 3-pointers by forward Brandon Ingram. The early success from beyond the arc was indicative of what was to come for the remainder of the half as the Blue Devils connected on seven of their 12 attempts from downtown.
Duke's success from distance was needed to weather the Cardinals' hot start from the floor. Louisville connected on 10 of its first 14 shots and finished shooting 13-of-26 from the field in the first 20 minutes of the games.
After the Blue Devils opened up a lead as big as five, Louisville responded by going on a 7-0 run and to take an 18-16 lead. The catalyst for the Cardinals was freshman Raymond Spalding, who nearly matched his total output from the first matchup between the teams with seven points in the first half—he had eight in the team's first matchup Feb. 8.
But the Blue Devils went on a run of their own just a few minutes later.
Duke used a 13-4 run—keyed by Allen who scored 11 points during the stretch— to open up a 32-26 lead. But turnovers hurt the Blue Devils in a big way. Ingram had a first half to forget as he committed six costly miscues and was held scoreless for the rest of the period after hitting the first two shots for his team.
Here are some observations from the half:
- Despite concerns about fatigue and a lack of depth with Matt Jones playing through an ankle injury, the Blue Devils opened the game playing man-to-man defense. The team stayed in this defense for much of the half, before switching to a 2-3 zone scheme near the end.
- The first substitute of the bench for Duke was freshman Chase Jeter, who played minutes alongside Plumlee as the Blue Devils went to a two-guard lineup with Derryck Thornton and Grayson Allen.
- After being relatively careful with the ball in the first meeting between the teams, Duke has struggled against the Cardinals press with seven turnovers and near-miscues moving past half court.
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