Seth Curry scored 23 points, showing no signs of the injury that sidelined him last weekend and Mason Plumlee added 16 points and 14 rebounds recording yet another double double as the duo helped lead Duke to a 90-63 victory over previously undefeated Temple.
Duke improved to 9-0 after beating Temple on Saturday.
Ryan Kelly added 14 points and 10 boards aiding in the win that helps improve the No. 2 ranked Blue Devils’ record to 9-0 on the season.
Duke started strong opening up a double digit lead early and never really relinquishing that margin. Though they did not break away from the owls until late in the second half after taking a 46-32 lead into halftime.Temple was lead by freshman Quenton DeCosey who scored 13 points including 3 of 3 from behind the arc. Temple’s bench outscored the starters 36-31, but the stat of the game, much to the chagrin of ESPN analyst Seth Greenberg, was the 29 free throw attempts for Duke and only 4 for the Owls.
Look at the disparity deeper and there was actually only a difference of 6 personal fouls between the two teams, the difference being Duke got to the free throw line by being the more aggressive team. The Owls committed 21 fouls while Duke had 15. The Blue Devils were just the more disciplined and failed to commit fouls while Temple was in the act of shooting.
This game once again showed the consistent balance of this year’s Blue Devil team. All of the starters with the exclusion of Rasheed Sulaimon, 8 points, scored in double figures a pattern that has pretty much been the case the entire season. This continual balance is good news, and Duke continued to show some life from the non starters as they got 15 bench points led by Amile Jefferson’s 7 and Alex Murphy’s 5.
Neither played big minutes but if they can continue to be consistent and productive in the minutes they do get, it will mean good things in the long run for Duke.
Duke has another long break before their next game, but this one is for some study time and exams. Cornell comes to town on the 19, and if the world ends on December 21st as the Mayans are predicting, Duke best be prepared to send us out with a win.
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