Duke Basketball

Recap – Duke Wins With Ease

Duke rips Augustana
Duke rips Augustana

The Duke Basketball team finished up the exhibition season with an easy 98-45 win over Augustana.  The defending Division II Champions simply could not match the Blue Devils athleticism and height.

Duke was led by a balanced scoring attack where sophomore Luke Kennard led the way for the second straight outing.  He would end the game with 17 points.  Grayson Allen and Frank Jackson would add 16 points apiece and Chase Jeter 15 to round out double figure scoring for the nation's top rated team.

In the early going, Duke showed off a full court press which included some traps and that held the Vikings to 19 first half points.  Duke would later mix in zone and go deep into their bench where nine players got meaningful minutes.

That is especially impressive considering that Harry Giles and Jayson Tatum remained sidelined and they were joined by Marques Bolden who sat out the game but was not injured per Mike Krzyzewski.

Duke's head man also said that he hoped Harry Giles would be a go by months end.  Giles will start 5 on 0 drills to learn the plays this week.

Duke came to play in their win and Krzyzewski praised his team's effort and not playing the scoreboard in his post game press conference.  The HOF coach also said that freshman Jayson Tatum would be returning to action and could see some action as Duke starts the regular season with Marist next Friday.

In a starting role, Chase Jeter went 5 of 5 from the field and free throw stripe which led o 15 points.  He also added 12 rebounds in an effort that earned praise from his teammates post game.

The key for Jeter's success was playing under control.  In his first exhibition game, he rushed things a bit.

Duke also got a strong effort out of Frank Jackson who led the team in assists with four.  More impressively, Jackson was active moving well with and without the ball.  He tallied 16 points and grabbed 6 rebounds due to said activity.

Graduate Senior, Amile Jefferson, led the team with 14 rebounds to go with 9 points.  Krzyzewski said that he wanted to see Jefferson at the five-spot but did think he tried too hard to make things happen early in the contest.

There were several big plays which ignited the Cameron Crazies.  One of them was a dunk by Matt Jones which has been rare in his career.  Krzyzewski  played off a question during his presser, saying it was a twitter like comment with concern to the flush.  Jones was a defensive demon in the win where he collected six steals.

Javin DeLaurier continued to add high energy in the early season games as well.  Known for his hustle and motor, DeLaurier made a sweet baseline drive and bucket showing how scoring from there is done.

The Blue Devils are a tight team and each play was heartily cheered on by teammates.  Krzyzewski said it best in that he has not even seen his team at full strength yet in that many kids have been in polo's on the bench.

What we continue to see despite another overmatched opponent is that this Duke team will be incredibly deep.  The talent s overflowing this season and it's the best I have seen in my many years of covering the program.

Duke will take the next couple of days off to concentrate on school work and rest and then start to prep for the season.  The team will face back to back contests on Friday and Saturday of next week when Marist and Grand Canyon visit.

Duke will be entering their 112th season of basketball and ranked consensus number one in the polls.  Duke has won an NCAA best 125 consecutive non conference games in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Mike Krzyzewski will be seeking his 1000th win at Duke this season, bit it will take 30 victories.  He is also nine wins shy his 500th win in Cameron.