The Eagles visited Cameron Indoor Stadium for an early season matchup with Duke, however, freshman Zion Williamson was the only one flying Wednesday night.
Duke easily defeated Eastern Michigan 84-46 with an all-around balanced attack led by Williamson and his freshman counterpart R.J. Barrett, who had 21 and 20 points respectively. Head coach Mike Krzyzewski had his players firing on all cylinders, and after a monster slam by Williamson for Duke’s first points of the game, the Blue Devils never looked back.
"I think in the last couple days we grew up a little bit more as far as communication goes," Krzyzewski said. "We shared the ball well and we got every loose ball in that first half, it was really fun to watch. Proud of my guys."
Though the Eagles (3-1) struck first with a layup in their opening set, Duke’s defense smothered Eastern Michigan for the rest of the contest. Freshman Tre Jones and sophomore Jordan Goldwire harassed the opposing guards in the backcourt, forcing 14 turnovers in the first half. Goldwire in particular played an excellent stretch in which he stole the ball leading to a fastbreak 3-pointer by junior Jack White forcing the Eagles to call a timeout. Immediately out of the huddle, Goldwire forced an Eastern Michigan player to pick up his dribble and call another timeout in fear of committing a five-second backcourt violation. Duke capitalized off the Eagles’ mistakes, scoring 31 points off turnovers and garnering much of its offense from electrifying fast breaks.
After an imperfect game against Army, Duke recovered and appeared much more engaged in its man-to-man defense. Thanks to quick closeouts and better communication by the Blue Devils, Eastern Michigan shot a dreadful 3-for-18 beyond the arc. The Eagles could not seem to get any rhythm as they only scored 13 points in the first half.
“I thought we handled everything well during this game. In transition we were relentless there,” Krzyzeweski said. “Everything we did kind of worked, and the reason it worked was because they played so hard.”
Due to the numerous amount of fast breaks that came Duke’s way, the Blue Devils (3-0) had many opportunities to share the ball, which ignited their offense as a whole. Duke finished with 23 assists led by Jones and Barrett with eight and six respectively. While Jones did not have a big scoring night, his numerous alley-oop assists, including a no-dribble half-court pass to Williamson that stabilized Duke’s offense and provided the energy the Blue Devils needed to run Eastern Michigan out of the gym.
"Every night when we come into games, I just know myself that I’ve got to get these guys organized," Jones said. "I’ve got a lot of talent around me, so being able to get those guys organized means they can put the ball in the hoop very easily."
Williamson continued his streak of efficiency Wednesday night, shooting 10-for-12 from the field and a near double-double with nine rebounds. His presence on the court made it very difficult for Eastern Michigan to find any success in the paint as the Blue Devils outrebounded the Eagles 56-37.
Krzyzewski also got a lot of production out of his role players. White had a career-high 10 points including two 3-pointers. Junior Javin DeLaurier also provided some efficient minutes with 10 points, six rebounds and two steals.
"[White], [DeLaurier] and even [senior Antonio Vrankovic] knows exactly what he’s supposed to do," Krzyzewski said. "If we can go to 10 or 11 where guys know, even if they don’t play much, they know when they get in what they’re supposed to do, then we’re gonna be better."
Overall, Duke had a very good performance Wednesday night, but the team played far from perfect which is to be expected from such a young team so early in the season. The Blue Devils turned the ball over 10 times themselves, and only shot 5-for-24 from beyond the arc. Duke’s three-point inefficiencies were in part due to freshman Cam Reddish’s relatively quiet outing. Reddish, who averaged 23.5 points per game in his first two matches, only scored three points against the Eagles.
The Blue Devils will need consistent production out of the talented freshman going forward if they want to effectively stretch the floor and open up driving lanes for the athletic Williamson and Barrett. Duke also only shot 7-for-16 from the free throw line, which should improve as the season progresses.
Duke will head to Hawaii for the Maui Invitational, with its first game against San Diego State next Monday at 5 p.m.
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