Beyond the arc: Duke men's basketball vs. Grand Canyon

Despite a slow start Saturday, Duke took care of business in its second straight game at Cameron Indoor Stadium, beating Grand Canyon 96-61. Star freshmen Harry Giles, Jayson Tatum and Marques Bolden remained sidelined with injuries, but the Blue Devils were able to get a lot of production from their talented guards and their bench.

Revisiting the three keys to the game:

• Dominate the boards: Grand Canyon was more of a physical challenge for Duke than Marist was Friday, and the Blue Devils outrebounded the Antelopes by a slim 39-31 margin. Only Grayson Allen had double-digit rebounds with 10, and forward Amile Jefferson added seven. Both teams had 10 offensive boards, and neither had many second-chance opportunities.
• Find the open shooters behind the arc: Despite three-point specialist Matt Jones going just 1-for-8 from behind the arc, sophomore Luke Kennard sank two of his three tries from the 3-point line and Allen made four triples on 33.3 percent shooting from deep. The Blue Devils continued to be a challenge to defend on the perimeter, shooting 37.9 percent from 3-point range and holding Grand Canyon to just a 25.0 percent clip.
• Convert from the charity stripe: The Blue Devils continued to struggle from the free-throw line, making just 67.7 percent of their 31 attempts. Kennard, the best free-throw shooter in the ACC last season, was just 2-for-4 from the line Saturday, and Allen also missed two foul shots.

Three key stats:

• Frank Jackson shoots 7-of-10 for 21 points: Despite being perhaps the least heralded of Duke’s four five-star freshman recruits, Jackson is currently the only healthy member of the quartet and is making the most of his time in the spotlight. With Jones, Allen and Kennard entrenched as the starting backcourt for the Blue Devils, Jackson’s role seems to be as an offensive sparkplug off the bench, and he has been doing just that as Duke's second-leading scorer through two games.
• Grayson Allen, Luke Kennard and Matt Jones play 35+ minutes: One of the reasons the Blue Devils were the preseason No. 1 team was how deep they can be at full health. But with the three aforementioned freshmen sidelined, head coach Mike Krzyzewski has made his trusted upperclassmen carry the workload, playing the backcourt trio of Allen, Kennard and Jones almost the entire game even in nonconference matchups like Saturday’s blowout win.
• The Antelopes commit 21 turnovers: Grand Canyon was content to play the type of up-tempo game that led it to 27 wins last season, but that strategy played right into Duke's hands. The Blue Devils' aggressive man-to-man defense forced 21 giveaways—including eight by junior guard Shaq Carr—and Duke finished with 22 points off turnovers.

Three key plays:

• 12:43 remaining, first half: Allen missed a 3-pointer and the rebound sailed to Jackson, who attempted a layup but was blocked by the Antelopes' Oscar Frayer. As Carr took the ball up the floor for Grand Canyon, however, Jones picked his pocket and finished the hectic sequence with a layup for Duke.
• 3:49 remaining, first half: Kennard hauled in a defensive rebound and brought it up the court in transition, where he made a slick no-look pass to a cutting Jackson along the baseline, who finished with a vicious two-handed dunk.
• 1:15 remaining, second half: Javin DeLaurier reeled in an offensive rebound and dished to Jack White cutting through the lane for a dunk. On the very next play, Jones stole the ball from Carr and threw an alley-oop to DeLaurier for the final points of the game.

And the Duke game ball goes to…Grayson Allen: