Beyond the arc: Duke flexes its depth in confidence-boosting win

Three key takeaways:

Deep roster

With Jalen Johnson fouling twice in the first three minutes, head coach Mike Krzyzewski dug a little deeper into the roster for scorers against Bellarmine in the first half. Fortunately for him, this year’s squad finally showed some of their much-hyped shooting abilities off the bench. Freshman Jaemyn Brakefield came through with three quick three-point shots to spark some energy for the team early in the game. Similarly, players who had seen very few minutes in the first two games, like Mark Williams and Patrick Tapé, made a difference for the team, particularly on the defensive end. Williams led the team with seven rebounds, each of which was much needed. Ultimately, as unfortunate as it was for Johnson to be out for essentially the entire first half, it appeared to bolster the team’s confidence in other players. 

Little action in the paint

By the end of the first half of the game, Duke had scored 35 points, only 10 of which were scored in the paint. Thanks to a relatively electric finish to the game, the Blue Devils ended with 30 of their 76 points coming from down low, which goes against the identity shown in the previous two games. Part of this was because the Knights did a strong job of holding them to the perimeter, but much of it was a result of sloppiness and not making the easy shots. At one point towards the end of the game, freshman Henry Coleman III, who saw more than one minute for the first time in his college career, had a fast break to the basket, where he was rejected by the rim on what should have been a sure-bucket. Mistakes like that led to Bellarmine outperforming Duke in the paint, 38 to 30. 

Team cohesion

For the first time this season, the Blue Devils truly began to look like and work as a team. On the offensive side, they were able to spread the court more and had successful ball movement. While their off-ball movement still needs to develop more before they face off against Illinois on Tuesday, the team seemed to be communicating much better than they had against either Coppin State or Michigan State. With 10 offensive rebounds, and 38 total, Duke showed real strength in that regard for the first time this year. For most of the game, the Blue Devils were seen playing a man-to-man defense that worked well for them.  The majority of shots that the Knights were able to get up came as a result of penetratration into the paint that was a factor of miscommunication on Duke’s end. When the team was alert and talking on the court, Bellarmine struggled to advance the ball beyond mid-court. It was nice to see the Blue Devils finally start to mesh like a true Division I basketball team. 

Three key stats:

Eight blocks

7-foot freshman Williams proved he is an asset to the team this game. He alone had four of the team’s eight blocks. While blocks aren’t typically thought of as being the most important statistic in basketball, each block against Bellarmine, as well as Bellarmine’s complete and total lack of any blocks, seemed to inspire the Blue Devils on the defensive end. In earlier games, Duke’s defense was pretty lacking. Against Bellarmine though, the big guys on Duke’s roster finally got to see some time and boy did they look good. In 6-foot-9 Tapé’s short six minutes, he had two blocks. Hurt and D.J. Steward each tacked on one also. Steward’s block was particularly remarkable because it proved he can climb the ladder for one of the smallest players on the team this year. 

Looking forward: 

On Tuesday, Duke will host No. 5 Illinois for the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. After having barely scraped out a win against unranked Ohio and suffering a pretty tough loss to No. 2 Baylor, Illinois should be a team that this Duke team can beat if they correct their sloppiness. Both teams have plenty of NBA Draft prospects, so the game will come down to which team can work better together, and after beating Bellarmine, the Blue Devils have proved they’re determined to play as a cohesive unit.