Less than two days after taking out Tobacco Road rival North Carolina, the Blue Devils are looking to extend their winning streak to five.
And judging by the looks of its first half against Clemson, Duke is looking to do so in convincing fashion, dominating the Tigers from the perimeter.
Sparked by 21 points off 3-pointers and stifling defense, the No. 18 Blue Devils lead Clemson 29-18 at the half at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Junior Grayson Allen, freshman Frank Jackson and senior captain Matt Jones combined for 18 points thanks to a 6-of-11 performance from downtown.
Despite a slow start from the Blue Devils that saw them go down 4-0, back-to-back treys from freshman Frank Jackson started to warm Duke's offense up. A long ball from Allen on the next trip down the floor was enough to put the Blue Devils firmly in the lead, and they kept building the lead from there despite struggling to make shots near the rim.
Sophomore sharp-shooter Luke Kennard chimed in two minutes later with a wide open triple from the top of the key to add some distance from the Tigers. After Clemson redshirt freshman Elijah Thomas hit three unanswered free throws, senior captain Matt Jones drained back-to-back treys of his own to extend the Duke lead to 10 with 7:43 to go in the period.
Coming into today's matchup, Duke's biggest concern was containing preseason All-ACC selection Jaron Blossomgame. The Blue Devils have managed to keep him at bay thus far, allowing the redshirt senior just five points on 2-of-7 shooting from the field.
Although the Blue Devils has been hot from downtown, they have struggled to find their footing in the paint. Both freshman Marquis Bolden and graduate student Amile Jefferson got into foul trouble early, picking up two fouls apiece by midway through the half.
Aside from an easy layup from Bolden, none of the Duke big men had any points in the paint. Giles struggled to assert himself against Thomas, who dominated down low with a team-high nine points for the Tigers.
Here are some observations from the first half:
- The Blue Devils got out to a slow start, yielding two easy buckets before freshman Jayson Tatum put Duke on the board.
- Clemson struggled to break through the Blue Devil defense early on, committing back-to-back shot-clock violations four minutes into play.
- Allen rolled his ankle under the Tigers' basket and left the game just less than four minutes in, but appeared okay after returning to the game two minutes later. He and Kennard are just 4-of-15 from the field.
- The Blue Devils scored 12 of their first 16 points and 18 of their first 24 points from beyond the arc.
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