It wasn’t a thing of beauty for Duke but it was enough to win and that may not have even been the most exciting part of the day for most Blue Devil fans.
Mason Plumlee led Duke yet again this time recording 21 points in the Blue Devils victory over Elon.
Mason Plumlee led the way yet again with 21 points and 16 rebounds as Duke kept Elon at a distance in the second half to capture a 76-54 victory. Despite the ugly performance the Blue Devils yet again were led primarily by the play of the starters. Ryan Kelly scored 14, Rasheed Sulaimon pitched in 13 and Quinn Cook added 10 for the Blue Devils.
With the gym likely still a buzz from the decision by the No. 2 prospect, Jabari Parker, picking Duke over Michigan State, Florida, BYU and Stanford earlier in the day, the Blue Devils struggled to find any energy from a holiday crowd.
Elon played hard and opportunistically and took advantage of the sluggish Blue Devils start over the majority of the first half. The Phoenix managed to hang around most of the second half but Duke managed to pull away behind a better second half shooting performance down the stretch.
At times Mike Krzyzewski looked less than thrilled with his performance and Mason Plumlee said several of the players including himself got a firm talking to. The pep talk appeared to work a bit in the second as the Blue Devils still didn’t play great but they were better.
It was Duke’s second game in a row after an 11 day lay off and as the No. 1 team in the country. They looked every bit the part in their Wednesday night victory over Cornell but struggled more against Elon. The Blue Devils will get another layoff for Christmas and will return to practice on December 26 as they prepare for their next game on December 29 against Santa Clara.
The two games may have limited Seth Curry who did not shoot particulary well scoring only 8 points shooting only 3 of 10 from the floor and 1 of 5 from the free throw line. Curry indicated after the Cornell game he didn’t quite know how his leg would responds and perhaps not having more than a day to rest took its toll a bit.
In a side note Marshall Plumlee who saw his first action against Cornell but only played two minutes after spraining his foot sat out the game with what has been called a sprain and was back in a walking boot.
Krzyzewski said after the game that the boot was a precaution and not a reaggravation of the previous foot fracture that had sidelined Plumlee the previous 9 games. He added that he expected the youngest Plumlee to be ready to practice on the 26th.
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