Rodney Hood scored a career high 30 points helped lead Duke past a scrappy East Carolina team in the second round of NIT Season Tip Off.
The Blue Devils jumped out to a 21-7 lead on the Pirates but the visitors from Greenville who were not intimated by playing in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Part of that may be the experiences of ECU coach Jeff Lebo who played at North Carolina under Dean Smith.
Duke struggled with ECU’s 2-3 zone and with no player equipped to be that back to the basket post player, the Blue Devils relied on the tried and true method of attacking the zone, dribble penetration and jump shooting. Duke shot nearly 50 percent from the floor, but was just 35 percent from behind the arc.
The Blue Devils also struggled on the glass as the Pirates outrebounded 37 to 34. ECU was led by Prince Williams who scored 15 points. He was added in the scoring column by Akeem Richmond and Antonio Robinson who scored 13 points a piece.
Duke once again counted heavily on freshman Jabari Parker who scored 21 point, had 9 rebounds and 6 blocks. Parker has scored 20 or more points in every game this season and is averaging just under 6o percent shooting from the field.
The tandem of Hood and Parker have at times carried this team and fortunately for Duke they can cover up some short comings of this team but they will need more consistent play out of guys like Amile Jefferson (6 points, 5 rebounds) and Rasheed Sulaimon (6 points and 1 of 6 shooting from the floor).
Mike Krzyzewski hardly played his bench in this game and the starters minus, Jefferson were on the floor for the bulk of the waning minutes of the game. Still this team is young and has plenty of time to improve but they are far from a finished product.
Duke in the mean time will take a break from the NIT Tip Off and play Vermont on November 24 before they advance to play the winner of the Alabama Georgia State game in the semi finals on November 27.
