UNCASVILLE, CONN.—With preseason All-American Grayson Allen struggling and several other top scoring options sitting with injuries, someone had to shoulder the offensive load for Duke.
Luke Kennard was up to the task.
The sophomore led the way with a season-high 24 points as the top-ranked Blue Devils claimed the title at the Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off Sunday at Mohegan Sun Arena, dealing No. 21 Rhode Island its first loss of the year 75-65. Kennard bounced back from a subpar 5-of-16 shooting performance in Duke’s semifinal win against Penn State Saturday by leading the team in points on 8-of-11 shooting—including 4-of-5 from 3-point range.
“We were really aggressive on the offensive end. Like Coach said, we had to play small ball for most of the game. We took advantage of that,” Kennard said. “Amile [Jefferson]—just him being on the boards, the offensive boards, we’re ready for kick-outs when he’s in there. We shared the ball very well.”
Jefferson collected his second straight double-double for the Blue Devils (4-1) with 17 points and 15 boards, leading Duke to a 36-35 rebounding advantage despite the small four-guard lineup it employed for most of the game. Forward Hassan Martin led the Ram frontcourt with 15 points, six rebounds and seven blocks, but Jefferson was able to get him into foul trouble and limit his impact.
With Martin compromised, the Blue Devils exploited Rhode Island’s lack of a true center and snagged 11 offensive boards—leading to 14 second-chance points.
“Amile the last two games has 15 rebounds in each game—that’s spectacular,” Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “Then we were fortunate that Amile got a couple fouls on Martin, and the best way to defend him is if he’s not in the game.”
Center Chase Jeter—who left Saturday’s game with a left ankle injury and was considered doubtful to play Sunday—was active but did not start against the Rams (4-1), coming off the bench to play sparingly along with Antonio Vrankovic. The two sophomores combined for 12 minutes down low.
But despite the heavy workload for its starters—Kennard, Allen and senior Matt Jones all played at least 39 minutes—Duke maintained a comfortable double-digit lead for most of the second half and successfully evaded the Rams’ full-court pressure.
Jefferson logged 36 minutes and freshman Frank Jackson played 33 in his first career start, as Krzyzewski made it clear he intended to lean heavily on his starting five.
“In the second half, [Jeter] gave us about five or six good possessions. We couldn’t keep Amile out,” Krzyzewski said. “We’re going to play these guys. I told these five guys, ‘You guys are in there for the whole time.’”
A jumper from Allen—who scored his 1,000th career point with a runner late in the first half—put the Blue Devils up by 14 with just more than seven minutes left to play. Jones came out of the under-eight media timeout with a big 3-pointer from the wing to push the Duke lead to 62-45 and put Rhode Island in a hole it could not recover from.
Krzyzewski said after the game that Allen has been playing at about 50 percent recently and has had to change his game a bit because of it—but the five-time national champion credited Allen for holding the Rams’ leading scorer E.C. Matthews to just nine points.
“Luke has really taken up for some of the slack for Grayson being hurt. Grayson is playing at about 50 percent, and we didn’t know if he was going to play or not,” Krzyzewski said. “He’s really banged up and he went through warmups and said, ‘I’m ready to go.’ He can’t shoot really well because he can’t get any push, but he really played Matthews well on defense.”
In addition to the injuries to Allen and Jeter—who Krzyzewski confirmed after the game is still hurt—the Blue Devils are still operating without five-star freshmen Jayson Tatum, Marques Bolden and Harry Giles early in nonconference play.
Duke now has a couple days of much-needed rest before hosting William & Mary Wednesday at 7 p.m.
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