After each Duke men's basketball game this season, check back here for the Player of the Game and more. The Blue Zone analyzes the Blue Devils' blowout win against Dartmouth on opening night:
One player: Kyle Filipowski
The player of the game goes to the birthday boy, Kyle Filipowski. The ACC Rookie of the Year came out aggressive in the first official game of the season, scoring 25 points for Duke. The sophomore showed no signs of slowing down, hitting 10-for-12 shots from the field. Adding a whole year of experience to his talented skills, Filipowski demonstrated his well-rounded game by scoring in a variety of ways.
At times, he caught the ball in the post and backed his defender down to create easy looks at the rim. Filipowski effectively played off the ball throughout the game, ready for passes after guards like Tyrese Proctor and Jeremy Roach, or even his fellow big man Ryan Young broke down the defense. This will be a key factor into how the season plays out, to build chemistry with the rest of the team and continue moving the ball. The team had 18 assists, and Filipowski’s movement allows more players to touch the ball and keep the defense guessing. Filipowski was effective at getting to the free-throw line, going 4-for-4 from the stripe. This team has improved its outside shooting from last year, but should still get to the rim and Filipowski did a great job of leading the team that way.
One word: Transition
Duke was able to engage the crowd through its fast play getting out on the break. Despite the slow start due to foul trouble, the Blue Devils were able to extend their lead thanks to strong play in transition. They were great at turning defense into offense, breaking up Dartmouth’s offense and using their speed to get out in open court for layups and dunks on the other end. Duke scored 16 fast break points to just one for the Big Green.
A key contributor to this advantage was the boost of Jaylen Blakes off the bench whose active hands led to three steals for the junior guard. He contributed 10 points for the Blue Devils on 100% shooting from the field. Duke’s strong depth at the guard position makes its defense twitchy and versatile. The guards possess speed, athleticism and crafty ball-handling skills to get out on the fastbreak to convert defense into a significant lead. This was part of the winning formula against Dartmouth and can be another strategy that Duke can use throughout this year.
One stat: Bench points
The Blue Devils significantly outscored the Big Green off the bench, 35 to eight. There is good reason to believe that this will continue to be the trend for Duke. The team enters this season with many key returning players including Filipowski, Proctor, Roach, Blakes, Mark Mitchell and more. Those players will continue to get better and demonstrate their experience on the court with improved statistics and performance.
In addition, Duke is welcoming a strong recruiting class led by the “Freshman Four” who contributed 29 points on the night. What makes the Blue Devils strong is their ability to continue to experiment with different lineups early in the season. They can go small with three or four guards in the starting lineup like they did Monday, or insert wings like Mitchell and Sean Stewart in the lineup. Duke benefited last year from a size advantage and can continue to demonstrate that with the improvement of sophomore center Christian Reeves. Head coach Jon Scheyer should continue to experiment to find the best starting lineup but also be flexible to adjust to opponents on the fly knowing that he has a multitude of options on the bench. The Blue Devils’ strong depth allows them to outscore opponents when their stars are resting, which will be key to a postseason run.
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