UNCASVILLE, CONN.— Traveling north for the second time this week, Duke’s already-short bench is getting even thinner as the injuries continue to mount.
The No. 1 Blue Devils suffered their first loss of the season Tuesday against No. 7 Kansas, but have bounced back to take a 36-24 halftime lead against Penn State Saturday afternoon at Mohegan Sun Arena. Both offenses struggled to start the game, but Duke found the range toward the end of the period to establish control led by 11 points off the bench from freshman Frank Jackson.
Matt Jones and Luke Kennard also made key perimeter shots and combined for 15 points in the period.
With an already depleted roster due to the absence of their top three freshmen, the Blue Devils were dealt two more injury blows in the first half.
Junior Grayson Allen—who had a minor health scare Tuesday against the Jayhawks—went down awkwardly on a drive and left the floor early in the first half. Just a few minutes later, sophomore Chase Jeter had to be helped off the court and had his left ankle attended to on the Duke bench. He also joined Allen in the locker room after a few minutes, but both returned to the bench.
Allen also returned to the floor later in the half and did not appear hindered. But after shooting just 4-of-15 from the field against Kansas, the preseason All-American scored just three points in the first half on 1-of-4 shooting.
A 7-0 run midway through the half—spurred by Jackson and sophomore center Antonio Vrankovic off the bench—helped the Blue Devils open a comfortable 21-10 cushion despite general sloppy play. Duke got off to another slow start offensively, hitting just two of its first eight field goals, but Penn State was not much better at 3-of-9.
Freshmen Tony Carr and Lamar Stevens drove the Nittany Lion offense and accounted for 14 of the team’s 24 points, but Penn State also committed nine turnovers and shot just 28.1 percent to give the Blue Devils some quality opportunities on the other end.
Here are some observations from the first half:
- For the fourth time in as many games, freshmen Harry Giles, Marques Bolden and Jayson Tatum were not in uniform and watched from the bench. Duke did not make any changes to its starting lineup.
- When Jeter went down with his injury, Vrankovic came in to replace him down low. Vrankovic played sparingly as a freshman last season but was effective in the first half with two points and three rebounds in limited action.
- After sparking the Blue Devils' comeback Tuesday late in the second half, Jackson picked up where he left off. The freshman and Jones hit late 3-pointers in the half after beautiful ball movement around the perimeter. Duke had six assists on its 12 made buckets in the period.
- The Blue Devils switched to a zone defense after Jeter and Allen left the game, a scheme the team had not employed this year but used often last season with a shorter rotation. Once Allen returned, Duke played four guards and got back to man-to-man.
- Freshman forward Javin DeLaurier—a former four-star recruit—was the third player off the bench for the Blue Devils but exited the game quickly after picking up two quick fouls.
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