No. 12 Duke men’s basketball welcomed No. 2 Auburn to Cameron Indoor Stadium for the ACC/SEC Challenge Wednesday night. After 20 minutes of play, the Blue Devils have taken a 43-36 lead:
Birthday boy
Head coach Jon Scheyer has kept the same starting lineup for the first seven games this season, however, he made a key switch before this contest. Graduate guard Sion James made his first start against Auburn, replacing sophomore Caleb Foster. James — a Tulane transfer — has made his impact felt this season on both ends, recording 7.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game. To make matters better, James celebrated his birthday tonight. In his first game as a starter, James recorded two points and two rebounds.
Tigers’ hot start
Head coach Bruce Pearl’s team started the game firing on all cylinders. On Auburn’s first possession, Chad Baker-Mazara connected from deep after an offensive rebound. A backdoor cut led to a Miles Kelly slam, and the Georgia Tech transfer knocked down a couple of extremely deep threes to silence the Cameron Indoor crowd. His second triple forced Scheyer to call a timeout, as the Tigers took a 13-2 lead before the first media break. However, as they have all season long, the Blue Devils settled in and fought back, capping off a 13-3 run of their own to make it a one-point game with less than 10 minutes to go.
Johni Broome vs. Maliq Brown
Johni Broome is one of the nation’s best players; the senior is averaging 20.7 points and 12.9 rebounds per game, an impressive feat for a fairly low volume 3-point shooter. Broome is the strength of this Auburn team, and it was clear that Duke would throw its strength right back at the Plant City, Fla., native. Maliq Brown, the reigning ACC Defensive Player of the Year, came in early to make life as difficult as possible for Broome. Early on, the 6-foot-10 forward was held to 2-of-9 from the field, as Brown and Khaman Maluach forced him into tough shots around the basket.
Capitalizing at the line
Aside from the barrage of Isaiah Evans triples, Duke has made a concerted effort to drive the ball inside and try to draw fouls against this Auburn defense. The Blue Devils shot 8-for-11 from the charity stripe in the first half, around their season average of 73.3%. The result of this aggression was foul trouble for the visitors. Broome and center Dylan Cardwell were one of four Tigers to pick up two fouls in the first half, a stat to watch throughout the second half. On the flip side, Duke only recorded five first-half fouls, a stark improvement to last weeks’ contest against Seattle.
Player of the half: Isaiah Evans
For the first time in a ranked contest this season, Scheyer turned to freshman Isaiah Evans in the first half — and the freshman took advantage of his chance. Evans came into the game and ran off a double screen to knock down his first triple. And when it rains, it pours. The Fayetteville, N.C., native connected on five more crucial 3-point baskets, the third of which gave the Blue Devils their first lead of the contest. He completely changed the trajectory of the game, especially as Kelly and Tahaad Pettiford were hot for Auburn. Evans also made his impact felt on the defensive end, hustling and saving a rebound from going out of bounds.
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Ranjan Jindal is a Trinity junior and sports editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.