Duke Basketball: Austin Rivers Impresses Mike Krzyzewski in Exhibition Game

Austin Rivers had 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting, grabbed four rebounds and even blocked a shot as Duke took down Shaw 80-66 last night.

"I thought he played like a very mature player tonight, said coach Mike Krzyzewski according to GoDuke.com. “I was very impressed with his game. He took what was there offensively and instead of saving his energy on defense, he used his energy on defense. That's a big growing-up game for him."

Duke Basketball Report took in the game and had this to say about the freshman:

"

Rivers, who to an extent lost his composure against Bellarmine, was vastly more effective against Shaw.  He has a rare ability to penetrate and pull up—all too often a forgotten art—and when his three-point shot comes around, he’ll be a real force. He also played defense with intensity, and you can see that when he makes up his mind to it, he’ll be an excellent defender.

"

The last player Duke had that effectively used that mid-range game was Gerald Henderson. Nolan Smith had some beautiful floaters and Singler had a fadeaway shot that showed up occasionally.

If Rivers can break people down and pull up from mid-range successfully, Duke will be harder to stop on offense. He missed both his three-point attempts but generally only needs to hit one occasionally to set up the drive.

Seth Curry had a good game numbers-wise. Only made 1-of-4 of his three-point attempts, but still had 12 points and five assists even though Tyler Thornton started with him for defensive reasons, according to Coach K:

"Seth [Curry]'s got to be our point guard. He and Miles [Plumlee] are our two key guys who have to play a little bit better. They didn't play poorly tonight, but they've got to play a little bit better. They have to have more of an impact on the game.

"We started Tyler [Thornton] primarily for defense, not for ball handling. on top, but if Tyler got the ball But I want Seth bringing it up most of the time. Seth can do that. He'll be more effective doing that."

That’s part of the transition of moving from off guard to primary ball handler. Curry has to be comfortable having the ball in his hands at all times. To his credit in 26 minutes of play he only had two turnovers.

Miles Plumlee has room for improvement. He had eight points and six rebounds in 26 minutes, but he was aggressive. He took 10 shots, but only made four. His brother, Mason was a perfect 6-of-6 (finished with 14 points) on field goal attempts and had eight rebounds and a blocked shot in 21 minutes.

Andre Dawkins continues to show he is a one-dimensional player. Of the eight shots he took, only one was not a three-point shot. However he was the only one to consistently score from downtown.  If he had not made four such shots, Duke would have been 3-14 on three-point attempts.

“He's a veteran player. He should play well. He fits in like a veteran player should. He can start or come off the bench or start in the second half,” said Coach K on Dawkins. “They went zone and that was right in his wheelhouse because we went to a couple sets. It should get us good shots against the zone.”

Free-throw shooting was abysmal overall. The Blue Devils made less than 50 percent of their free throws (11-of-24).

Ryan Kelly was the only player decent from the line as he made 6-of-8 and finished with 15 points and eight rebounds off the bench.

I like Miles and Mason starting and if Ryan can be this valuable as a bench player. Long term though, maybe Dawkins will step into the starting spot, but Ryan will occasionally start.

I suspect Thornton was given the nod as a starter as a reward for his defensive play in the Bellarmine game and a reminder to players that no one is irreplaceable especially as Coach K thought his team looked “tired” in the first exhibition game.

The good news is Duke won the games they were supposed to win. Though they will have to step it up against better teams, like Ohio State and Michigan State, especially since they won’t be at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Overall, Coach K was positive about what he saw:

"Austin really played hard tonight. Before seeing it, you feel it. You feel how hard a kid is playing. And then if he's talking off the ball and he's animated, that's playing hard too. I thought Ryan [Kelly] did a good job too. I thought he played very hard. We played hard."

"We played fine tonight. We've just got to be more efficient. And we played against a different type of team with those two guards spreading you and driving you the whole time. We made good adjustments and held them to the low 60s. With a lot of guys playing, we just should have scored a few more points."

The game was watched by former players Lance Thomas, Kyrie Irving and Nolan Smith.