One of the No. 1 Blue Devils’ main preseason goals was to stay healthy.
That expectation has fallen apart in the past month, and the Duke team that takes the court for the team’s season opener will likely look very different than the one many expected to see.
The Blue Devils will host Marist Friday at 7 p.m. before taking on Grand Canyon Saturday at 5:30 p.m. at Cameron Indoor Stadium in the opening rounds of the Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off without freshman center Marques Bolden. Duke announced Monday that Bolden suffered a left lower-leg injury, meaning the Blue Devils will open the year without two of their top three five-star frontcourt players since Harry Giles is still out following arthroscopic knee surgery in early October.
Luckily for Duke, it should get 6-foot-8 freshman star Jayson Tatum back from a foot sprain and has the depth to withstand the losses. In both of the Blue Devils’ exhibitions, a full-court, man-to-man defense leading to free-flowing offense was the theme in a pair of blowouts.
“Defensively, we really wanted to get in the passing lanes and try to be more versatile,” senior captain Matt Jones said after Duke beat Augustana 98-45 Friday. “We tried to throw a couple more defenses at them to see if we could do it in the regular season.”
With Bolden out after resting against the Vikings, the Blue Devils could either start a bigger lineup with sophomore Chase Jeter alongside graduate student Amile Jefferson in the frontcourt or utilize Tatum at one of the forward spots to speed up the tempo. Head coach Mike Krzyzewski’s decision could indicate how he wants to leverage Duke’s depth this season, with Grayson Allen, Jones, Tatum and Jefferson likely to start assuming Tatum is healthy.
Instead of using Jeter with that group, the Blue Devils could start sophomore guard Luke Kennard or freshman Frank Jackson to utilize a smaller starting five. But Jeter—who struggled as a freshman—looked more composed in the Augustana game, putting up 15 points and 12 rebounds against the smaller Vikings.
“[Chase] did an amazing job,” Jefferson said after the game. “He was really active around the rim. He did a good job protecting our basket. He was always lively when he caught the ball.”
Regardless of whether or not he starts, Jeter will look to build on last week’s effort against two more undersized teams with a Tuesday contest against No. 3 Kansas in the Champions Classic on the horizon.
Marist is coming off a 7-23 season, but returns most of its key pieces led by preseason first team All-MAAC guard Khallid Hart. At 6-foot-2, Hart averaged 20.3 points last year and will try to help Marist get out of the conference cellar after the Red Foxes only posted nine conference wins in the last two seasons.
Jones and Jackson would be likely candidates for Duke to stick on Hart, who shot 38.3 percent from 3-point range last season. Both Blue Devil guards were particularly active defensively in exhibition play, with Jones posting six steals against Augustana.
“Matt is solid,” Krzyzewski said after the game. “[He’s] just steady.... He’s not trying to be anyone else, he’s just trying to be himself.”
Duke will have a quick turnaround after Marist, taking on Grand Canyon less than 24 hours later as a precursor to next weekend’s Hall-of-Fame Tip-Off games against Penn State and either No. 23 Rhode Island or Cincinnati in Uncasville, Conn.
The Antelopes are coached by Dan Majerle, a 14-year NBA veteran, and return three players from a team that finished second in the WAC last year, including preseason WAC Player of the Year Joshua Braun. The 6-foot-4 guard averaged 16.5 points per game on 41.7 percent shooting from beyond the arc, and will have another sharpshooter on his team in four-star freshman guard Oscar Frayer—the best recruit in program history.
Without their anchor down low in Bolden, the Blue Devils will look to defend their No. 1 ranking and build more confidence before facing three quality opponents next week.
“As Duke basketball players, we have a target on ourselves,” Jackson said Wednesday. “Everyone plays their best against us and we definitely look to that. We can’t take plays off, we can’t be nonchalant during the game and such because we know that the teams are going to bring their best effort.”
Even after watching Bolden and Giles suffer preseason setbacks, Duke is ready to build on its 125-game nonconference home winning streak.
“I’m excited,” Jackson said. “Our team is ready, we’ve been preparing for this moment and for this season and so I’m excited get out there and play Friday night.
Brian Pollack, Mitchell Gladstone and Sameer Pandhare contributed reporting.
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