With its full complement of players in head coach Mike Krzyzewski's last game before back surgery, Duke is playing up to its potential for the first time in nearly a month.
The No. 8 Blue Devils lead Georgia Tech 61-30 after a half of play at Cameron Indoor Stadium behind 16 points from sophomore Luke Kennard and 11-of-18 shooting from 3-point range. Grayson Allen started the game after his indefinite suspension was lifted after just one game—a blowout loss against Virginia Tech—and freshman Harry Giles started for the first time of his career.
After the Yellow Jackets got easy layups on their first two possessions of the game to take an early 4-0 lead, Duke dominated the rest of the half. The Blue Devils quickly scored nine straight points to take a five-point lead and knocked down four straight triples in a 14-0 run to break a 15-11 game open.
Duke stretched its lead to 22 after Allen converted a four-point play with 6:04 remaining—the junior has been an effective playmaker with a team-high five assists and only took four shots to get his 13 points thanks to five free-throw attempts.
Kennard has continued to score efficiently, starting the game 6-of-6 from the field and 4-of-4 from downtown after pouring in 34 points in the loss against the Hokies. Freshman Frank Jackson came off the bench to hit three 3-pointers and finished the period with 12 points.
Two of Kennard's six triples have come off assists from Allen, and Duke has moved the ball much more effectively than it has in its last three games, with 11 assists against just four turnovers.
Defensively, graduate student Amile Jefferson has held his own against 6-foot-10 Ben Lammers, and Duke has kept Georgia Tech from finding a rhythm after its stunning upset of then-No. 8 North Carolina Saturday.
Lammers—who averages a double-double with 14.6 points and 10.1 rebounds per game—has just three points on 1-of-4 shooting so far, and the Blue Devils are outrebounding the Yellow Jackets 23-15.
Here are some observations from the first half:
- Giles scored Duke's first points of the game with a lay-in off a lob from Allen, but could not convert his next few shots from the low post and is just 1-of-5 from the field in nine minutes. He does have six rebounds.
- Giles took Matt Jones' place in the starting lineup, forcing the senior captain to come off the bench for the first time since his sophomore year. Jones responded by knocking down two first-half 3-pointers but had three first-half fouls.
- Freshman center Marques Bolden was the Blue Devils' first player off the bench but did not record any stats in three minutes.
- Freshman Jayson Tatum has had one of his more quiet halves offensively of the year, with four points on 1-of-5 shooting.
- Duke is having a lot of success in transition, finding the open man on the perimeter consistently after getting steals. The Blue Devils have 15 points off turnovers and head into the locker room after their highest-scoring half of the year.
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