Duke Basketball: Smart Kids Beat Really Smart Kids...By a Lot
The Duke Blue Devils crushed the Princeton Tigers, 97-60, in Duke’s opening game of the season. Now Duke’s 37-point whipping was impressive, this was far from a perfect game for the Blue Devils. That just goes to show you how good this team really could be and how high the expectations will be this year.
THE GAME WAS OVER WHEN…
...The Blue Devils went on a 8-0 run to end the first half. With 18 and a half minutes gone, Duke actually only led by six. Of course it was the two seniors, Singler and Smith, who hit back-to-back threes that got the mini-run going. With the 14-point cushion, the Blue Devils looked more comfortable coming out of halftime and quickly pulled away.
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WHO DESERVES MAD PROPS…
Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith both established quickly that this was their show. While the rest of the team struggled in the first-half, Smith and Singler were flaming. The two seniors shot 10-15 from the floor in the first 20 minutes, while the rest of the team was just 4-18. For the game the pair was 17-25 (68 percent).
Smith also ran the point when Irving took a break. He dished out six assists.
BTW, when was the last time Kyle Singler sat down in a game for a full seven minutes (which he did in the second half when he picked up his third foul)?
DON’T FORGET ABOUT…
…The rookie sensation Kyrie Irving. The freshman quickly showed both you and I his dazzling quickness and ability to stop on a dime (why a dime, I never figured that out?). His only fault was finishing. He missed an easy breakaway layup and a couple of floaters in the paint. Yet after a 1-5 start, he shot 3-5 in the second half.
More importantly though, he dished out nine assists to only one turnover. A nine-to-one assist-to-turnover ratio would make John Scheyer blush. Of course any great point guard knows how to butter up his bread and his butter is knowing to get the ball into the hands of Singler and Smith. If my math is right, seven of his nine assists went to the two seniors.
LOSERS NEED LOVE TO…
Dan Mavraides, who put up 26 against Rutgers early this week, actually had a nice shooting night in Cameron. He hit 6-8 from the floor, including 4-5 from three. He finished with 16 points. However, he had zero assists, only one board, turning it over five times.
GOD I LOVE STATS, PT 1: Duke scored 36 points off of 27 turnovers.
GOD I LOVE STATS, PT 2: The 97 points given up by Princeton is the most points they’ve allowed since 1968…yes, 1968 when they lost to North Carolina, 103-76.
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