CHESTNUT HILL, MASS.— Eight days, four games. The Blue Devils entered Saturday’s road matchup against Boston College at the end of a grueling stretch. Duke struggled out of the gates, but turned it on to take a 37-28 lead into the locker room. Here are five takeaways from the first 20 minutes.
Something Boston, Something Blue
Boston’s basketball scene and Duke already had a significant connection in Celtics star and former Blue Devil Jayson Tatum, who was in the building for the game, and if you squinted, you could see a few Tatum jerseys in the crowd at Conte Forum.
What you didn’t have to squint to see, though, was the sea of fans wearing Duke blue. Were it not for the maroon seats, the stands may have actually looked more blue than otherwise. Still, the Duke faithful made their presence known as they cheered on the Blue Devils.
Boston College: still a hockey school
Boston College men’s basketball shares their arena with the men’s hockey team, which has five national championships and is coached by the winningest NCAA hockey coach of all time. Sound familiar? The basketball program, though, doesn’t quite have the same level of success, previously being a perennial tournament team but not much more.
However, that doesn’t mean the team isn’t committed to growing. Under new head coach Earl Grant, the Eagles have already improved drastically to a current 9-13 record from last season’s 4-16 mark. And despite a talent differential that had most analysts writing this matchup off as an easy win for Duke, Boston College brought the energy to take advantage of a sloppy Duke team early, jumping out to a 6-2 lead and forcing three Blue Devil turnovers in just over four minutes of play. However, despite that initial push, Duke was eventually able to overpower the Eagles to finish the half with a nine-point lead.
Revving up
Duke finished the half with seven turnovers after giving it up just seven times the entire night against Clemson Thursday. Head coach Mike Krzyzewski said after that game that the team was flying directly to Boston and would land around 3 a.m. Friday morning. That sort of travel itinerary would be hard for anyone, let alone athletes that have to play high-level basketball just a day later.
As such, it took the Blue Devils a while to warm up, playing a very sloppy first five minutes before going on an 11-2 run to take control. On offense, Duke was able to muscle its way past the Eagles to create opportunities, and on the other side of the court, it forced Boston College into unideal positions and got critical stops.
Perimeter problems
Three-point shooting was basically a non-factor through most of the first half. Duke connected thrice from downtown and Boston College finished a lowly 0-of-4 from distance. What that meant, though, was that both teams derived most of their offense from inside. This gave Duke the advantage, as the Blue Devils were physically larger than their opponents. However, Duke’s ability to get a couple triples was the difference-maker that let it pad its lead and make the Eagles' hill steeper to climb despite their energy.
Player of the half: Paolo Banchero
Freshman phenom Paolo Banchero has had a quiet stretch recently, averaging 12.3 points across the Blue Devils’ last three, nearly five points below his season clip. However, against Boston College, the Seattle native seems to have found his stride again, finishing with a team-leading 10 points and four rebounds in the opening period. Arguably more important, though, was the way he engineered the offense and created opportunities for his teammates.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.
Sasha Richie is a Trinity senior and a sports managing editor of The Chronicle's 118th volume.