The Duke Blue Devils rode a terrific second half effort in route to a 109-59 win over Fairfield in Cameron Indoor Stadium.  The win pushed their record to 2-0 on the young season before they travel to Indianapolis to take on Michigan State this coming Tuesday night,  In two games, the Blue Devils averaged and impressive 111 points per game on the offensive end while going to their bench early and often.

Better in the Paint

Duke has outscored their two opponents by a 96 to 48 margin in the paint this season.  Much of that comes from the addition of Jahlil Okafor, the freshman sensation who is a ridiculously efficient 17 of 20 from the field this young season,  In the win over Fairfield tonight, he got a lot of help from Amile Jefferson who scored 15 points and grabbed 9 rebounds.  In the post game press conference, Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski pointed but that Jefferson was learning to play with Okafor and the opportunities it opens up.  He also said that Jefferson was using both hands around the rim better.

Coach K praises Quinn Cook

Quinn Cook scored his 1000th point against Fairfield drew praise from Krzyzewski.  Cook has been playing with much more energy this season and that could be due to his off-season workouts, where he concentrated on endurance.  "He's doing a great job of leading.  His personality is so good right now with these young guys," said Krzyzewski. He continued by saying, "They love him and he's given them positive stuff.

K praises Rasheed Sulaimon as well

"The other kid who didn't score a point but had a big impact on the game was Rasheed (Sulaimon)," said Krzyzewski, leading into the statement unprompted by a question.  "His ball pressure and passing ... he had four assists and no turnovers, but his passing ...if this was hockey he would have got eight or nine assists today (vs Fairfield).  "I'm really pleased with how he's played in these two games.  He gets it down the court faster than anyone on the team."  I noticed some fans seemed worried about Sulaimon, so hearing this should help dispel any worries.  Krzyzewski said that a player feels good when he makes a positive impact on the game despite not scoring.  He pointed to Sulaimon maturing and said he is doing things no body on the team could do as well, such as ball pressure.

Chemistry starts with ball movement

There have been times in the first two games where the Blue Devils have zipped the ball with precision.  When you see that pop-pop-pop-bucket thing going on, that means a team is getting it.  So far this season, Duke has had a combined 52 assists.  There were games a season ago when they had five or less.

Freshman as advertised

Jahlil Okafor and Justise Winslow have been freaky good to date.  Tyus Jones is solid as a rock and Grayson Allen adds a lot of fire power off the bench.  So far, these guys have in no way disappointed.

We'll chime in more tomorrow, but until then, check out what Jefferson had to say post game -