Duke got off to a difficult start against Miami’s offense Saturday night as the Hurricanes ran several screens on their opening possessions to create driving opportunities for guards Davon Reed, Ja’Quan Newton and Bruce Brown, challenging the Blue Devil forwards to overcome their recent defensive woes in the paint.
At first, it seemed that Miami would do just what Florida State and Louisville did last week—score at will as Duke’s help defense arrived late and the Blue Devils got in early foul trouble.
But the unanticipated return of co-captain Amile Jefferson combined with impressive performances from several other unlikely heroes allowed Duke to right the ship in the second half despite an 11-point halftime deficit.
“This was a big moment for us in coming together,” Blue Devil junior Grayson Allen said. “We talked, and the guys were angry at halftime with the way things were, and they changed it. They came out and played great basketball and energetic basketball and got stops. We got a lot of stops and that led to our run.”
When interim head coach Jeff Capel told the media Monday on the ACC’s weekly teleconference that Jefferson was “still day to-day,” many assumed he meant that come Saturday, Jefferson—who had missed his two previous games with a right-foot bone bruise—would either not play at all or play very limited minutes.
But about 30 minutes prior to tipoff, Duke announced that Jefferson would start against the Hurricanes, and the Philadelphia native’s ability to communicate, command and transform the team’s defense was on full display as his team improved throughout the game and eventually found itself turning 12 second-half Miami turnovers into 25 points. After practicing Thursday and Friday, Jefferson was back fighting through pain to log 34 minutes Saturday night.
“He’s the best communicator we have,” Capel said. “You know some guys, you can talk to them on the bench or during a break in action. Amile can do it in real time, he can see things, he can communicate it, he can make guys go. He’s an amazing leader. He gives us versatility defensively that we don’t have when he’s not there.... He’s as valuable of a guy, I think, as there is on any team in college basketball.”
The graduate student made his biggest impact crashing the boards, where he posted 11 defensive rebounds against a Hurricane squad that entered Saturday’s matchup as one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the ACC.
The one area where Jefferson failed to impress, though, was on offense. But fellow big man Marques Bolden had no trouble picking up the slack.
Although Bolden had failed to score from the floor in 16 minutes of his most recent playing time before Saturday, the Desoto, Texas, native used multiple powerful dunks to grind out a 4-of-6 shooting performance, good enough for a season-high eight points.
As Jefferson and Bolden combined to create a wholesome interior presence, Duke saw a tandem of guards excel individually on both ends of the floor—but it was not the usual suspects who helped the Blue Devils find their way.
Starters Allen and Luke Kennard struggled in the opening half—combining for 13 points on 3-of-12 shooting in the first 20 minutes—and were replaced to start the second period by senior Matt Jones and freshman Frank Jackson.
Both guards played lock-down defense and combined to force five turnovers, and even fed off each other to help bring their team back following intermission. During back-to-back Miami possessions early in the second half—and during a span of 33 seconds—Jackson and Jones each forced a Miami turnover and then dished the ball to the other, resulting in a five-point swing that allowed Duke to take back the lead with 15:11 to play.
Jones finished the game with 13 points and went 3-of-5 from downtown, and Jackson also had an efficient shooting performance, going 4-of-7 from the floor in addition to leading the team with four assists.
The duo showed it was perfectly comfortable stealing the spotlight from Allen and Kennard, and thrived when it mattered most—so much so that Capel said he would have to consider using the lineup that started the second half again after seeing the energy that Jones, Jackson and Bolden brought to the floor.
No single Blue Devil had a monster game or stole the show, but it was a combination of players—and a somewhat unusual one—that allowed Duke to succeed down the stretch.
However, the team still has plenty of room to grow after another uneven performance, a fact Jefferson emphasized after the game.
“The thing we can’t do is only fight for 20 minutes,” Jefferson said. “It worked for us tonight but you know they’re a really good team and without Matt spearheading it, it doesn’t happen. But we have to put together full games and no matter who’s out there, we have to have all our guys in.... That leadership from our upperclassmen, our older guys, is contagious and in that second half, it really helped us to win this game.”
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