Duke lost 76 percent of its scoring and 68 percent of its rebounding from that team, which was carried by three freshmen-turned-first-round picks – most notably 6-foot-11 Jahlil Okafor, now of the Philadelphia 76ers.
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Part of the reason for that, though, was thanks to lessons learned after a poor performance in Duke’s first exhibition game.
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) – No. 5 Duke got together for a team meeting to talk about the flaws in its lopsided season-opening victory.
Then the Blue Devils came out for Game 2 and managed an even bigger rout.
“We still have to learn from winning”, Allen said, “so we don’t have to lose just to learn”.
Parker Boehme stepped up for the Blue Devils as the redshirt sophomore recorded 328 all-purpose yards in his first start for Duke, but Pittsburgh was able to outscore the Blue Devils 17-3 in the final two quarters of play to notch a 31-13 win in the always competitive ACC Coastal Division. Forward Amile Jefferson provided 11 points and 11 rebounds for the Blue Devils (2-0). Wright will need to carry the load offensively while Javion Ogunyemi will have to take his average of 1.5 blocks from last season and defend the paint like his life depended on it. If they can do that, the Saints, assuming the rest of the team takes care of the little things, might make it closer than it should be.
“At halftime, I told them, ‘I don’t know who’s scoring, I just know we are because we have connecting plays, ‘” Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said.
“I think one thing I’ve been doing is watching Steve Masiello’s Manhattan team because they get better as they go, each year”, Patsos said.
Tatum, who averaged 26 points a game as a junior, is not the only big fish that Duke landed during the early signing period.
The Bulldogs continued to scrap back and went on an 8-0 run of their own to narrow their second-half deficit.
He hit 8 of 13 shots with most coming on aggressive moves to the rim while threatening the high of 27 points he set in his last game at Cameron Indoor Stadium – a rout of Wake Forest in the 2014-15 home finale.
“We’ll see if they want to fight for a win or are they content to just not get embarrassed and represent well and play well”.
This one certainly didn’t require much effort. Ingram is the only one who started and he finished with 15 points on 5-of-16 shooting, while the other three combined to score 17 points. Shooting guard Luke Kennard will play a significant role this season for the Blue Devils as well, as he will fill in behind Grayson Allen.
“To be able to score 75 points against a team the caliber of Duke is a good sign for us”, coach Tim O’Shea said. Duke now has the nation’s top recruiting class.
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The James Madison women’s soccer team fell to Duke, 5-0, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Koskinen Stadium on Friday night. You have to get better in the MAAC. They have also won 110 in a row at home against unranked non-ACC opponents. They did play Pittsburgh tough in a 72-67 loss on February 2.
