Duke defeated Davidson 75-47 on Saturday night in front of a packed house including yours truly. At times, the offense was unwatchable, committing stupid turnovers, not pulling the trigger on the open shots they were getting from the zone, and countless missed layups. Still, Duke was able to erase the laundry list of mistakes by 1) playing suffocating defense and 2) playing Davidson. If the Blue Devils are careless with the ball next week like they were against a lesser opponent like Davidson, they will lose to Indiana and Georgetown next week. However, I don't want to come off too harsh here considering 1) they won by 28 points and 2) this team is still very young, comprised of mostly freshmen and sophomores and their "star" point guard is coming off of a serious foot injury that sidelined him for nearly a month.
Josh McRoberts and Jon Sheyer chipped in 14 points a piece to pace the Blue Devils and Brian Zoubek and Gerald Henderson each reached double-digits with 12 and 10 points respectively. The Blue Devils collectively held Davidson to a dismal 28% shooting from the field and considering they were averaging 85 points a game, holding the team to only 47 points is an excellent feat for this young team.
Next up for Duke is Indiana in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge tonight (ESPN, 9:00 P.M.) This should be another early season test for this young team and hopefully the can accept the challenge. If D.J White stays out of foul trouble then Duke will have their hands full down low.
Prediction: I see a back and forth game going down the wire but I think Duke's inside game and the crowd will get them over the top, Duke 69 Indiana 65.
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