Duke handled Evansville with ease on Wednesday night.
Wendell Carter Jr. had his best game as a Blue Devil notching 27 points, and going 4-7 from beyond the arc. Carter was efficient, going 9 of 15 from the field and 5-5 from the free throw line. Duke would blow out the Evansville Purple Aces, who only had 8 bodies to use tonight. Duke came into the game with one real point of emphasis as a team: Show much better defensive effort, especially on the perimeter. I also wanted to see how these Devils would come out offensively. Obviously, Evansville was not going to be a top notch opponent but Duke did not treat them that way. Duke was in kill mode from jump ball until buzzer. Something that Coach K and crew really needed to see. Duke seemed to shake off the disappointment of losing to Boston College and Evansville was the recipient of the release of that angst to the tune of a 104-40 drubbing.
Duke did a much better job at preventing open looks, Evansville did hit on 5-14, a couple were in the waning moments of the game and I counted only 4 open looks throughout the game (unofficial). Duke was also much more active with their hands, switched much better and recovered on defense in a much better fashion. Getting the 11 day lay-off from games surely did this team well and it showed on the court.
Duke shot outstanding from beyond the arc, going 16 of 26 for 61.5%, and won the rebounding battle 36 to 24. Duke also got double figure efforts from Marvin Bagley III with 18, Grayson Allen with 16 and Gary Trent Jr. with 13.
Duke shared the ball out impressively and dished 32 assists in the game after only 13 against Boston College. Duke chose to go with full court pressure on the ball, which seemed to energize the defense, every player to a man seemed much more engaged and active. The net effect of full court pressure is having to dip into your bench which Duke also did effectively. Coach K mixed his lineups with no discernible drop-off in production. There really isn’t a whole lot you can glean from a game like this aside from Duke has the ability to play the defense that Coach K wants and in ten days when Florida State comes to Durham that will be the test of what Coach K has implemented and what Duke, as a team, has learned.
The Good:
32 assists from Duke vs 12 against Boston College. Duke did a much better job at sharing the basketball.
61.5% from three-point range, Duke took good shots for the most part, didn’t force 3’s.
Holding the Purple Aces to 30.0% from the field, Duke played much better perimeter defense.
5 turnovers for the game, Duke was much better at valuing the ball.
The Bad:
Obviously injuries to Javin DeLaurier (hamstring) curbs Duke’s depth while he’s out. Coach K says he should be back for Florida State.
