Duke basketball: Blue Devils overcome slow start to beat Southern
The Duke Blue Devils came out asleep against Southern for much of the first half before ultimately pulling away and winning. The good news is one of their freshmen had the big game fans were waiting for.
After having a sub-par first few games, freshman forward Wendell Carter Jr. started things off well for Duke, scoring the first five points and a big block to help them take the early lead.
After exiting the Champions Classic with an eye injury, Marvin Bagley III saw things perfectly fine, with 12 points and six rebounds in the opening half. Besides those two, however, the other players struggled and turnovers kept the Southern Jaguars (0-4) in the game. Junior guard Richard Lee‘s floater was part of a 7-0 Southern run to cut the deficit to just one under the eight-minute timeout.
Moments later, Lee’s three-pointer tied the game up at 25 as part of his team-leading nine first-half points. A Gary Trent Jr. deep ball himself gave the Duke Blue Devils (4-0) the lead right back. After having his best game of his college career, Grayson Allen was invisible in the first half. He was scoreless the first 15 minutes before a nice behind-the-back fast-break lay-up, which was part of a 15-5 to end the half with a 42-32 lead.
Allen was somewhat more aggressive in the second half, scoring the first points. He got an assist from Duval in a fast break and-one to break into the top-30 all-time in Duke’s career scoring mark. He only had ten points but had four assists as well.
Marques Bolden, who didn’t play in the first half, got his first field goal five minutes into the final 20 minutes. He and Javin DeLaurier received extended minutes in the second half, and the lead slowly but surely grew to beyond reach for the Jaguars. Bagley fouled out of the game with 2:46 left to go. He ended up with 20 points and 11 rebounds, his third double-double of the young season.
But still, even in the second half Duke was sloppy and at times, outworked by the small Southern. If this effort was against a team with even average talent, they would’ve been in trouble. The final score was Duke 78, Southern 61.
Jamar Sandfer came into the game for Southern averaging less than a couple of points per game. He finished this one with 14 points to lead the team and should be getting more minutes going forward for Southern.
Senior forward Jared Sam, the best player on the team, had the most difficult task possible of having to score, all while having to deal with Carter and Bagley. He finished with four points and four rebounds but did the best he could when considering the circumstances.
This was an important game for Carter who finished with 22 points and 12 rebounds and for the first time looked like equals to Bagley. Duke would be close to unstoppable if both forwards are dominant.
It shouldn’t be too surprising that the Blue Devils would have an emotional letdown after their huge win, but these guys have to understand that they’re going to get everyone’s best shot — even a small SWAC school with nothing to lose.
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Duke gets another “easy” game coming up with Furman coming to town, while Southern will play an opponent more equal to their talent level in North Carolina Central. Although they lost this game, there are certainly some positives to take away for the rest of the year.