NEW YORK—Blue Devil head coach Mike Krzyzewski has been adamant following recent games that his team does not practice very much.
Whether it is sophomore Grayson Allen dealing with turf toe, Frank Jackson battling a sore foot of his own or Jayson Tatum and Marques Bolden shaking off the rust, Duke has struggled finding enough bodies to hold practice.
But a pair of Duke’s best performers Tuesday were not at the team’s practice a day earlier for a different reason altogether.
“Yesterday, both Amile and Jayson were not with us. We had no practice yesterday with them because they were both at funerals for their loved ones,” Krzyzewski said. “Amile’s grandmother who helped raise him passed away and they had a funeral in Philadelphia. Jayson was in St. Louis for the funeral of his great-grandmother. For those kids to come back, we just haven’t practiced very much with injuries and all this.”
The absences were yet another obstacle that held this Duke squad from being whole for an extended period of time.
Despite facing each other so little in practice and having their entire collection of players available for games for such a limited time, the Blue Devils have the look of a team that has a natural chemistry about it.
Duke assisted on 16 of its 32 made baskets and showcased its ability to find open teammates throughout Tuesday's contest against No. 21 Florida.
“They like each other," Krzyzewski said. "When they were all healthy—Jayson and those guys—in October, that’s all they did. They just made plays for one another and we haven’t been able to do that completely yet.”
With a game Saturday against UNLV followed by an extended break for exam week, perhaps the thing the Blue Devils are looking most forward is spending more time with each other on the court.
“It’s almost like we’re in 'October mode' now, whereas everyone else is in 'December mode,' but I think we can catch up,” Krzyzewski said.
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