Duke Basketball faced off with Princeton Tuesday night after a ten day break due to their exam schedule. The Blue Devils were able to outmatch their opponents yet again.
The (10-1) Duke Blue Devils faced-off with the (5-5) Princeton Tigers on Tuesday night in Cameron Indoor. The Blue Devils beat the Tigers 101-50, in the last game in Cameron in 2018.
The Blue Devils got off to a slow start, missing their first seven attempts. The Tigers one-three-one defense that looked like a man-man defense had the Blue Devils taking ill-advised three-pointers early on.
Players like R.J. Barrett were willing to shoot from outside the paint, which is what the Tigers defense wanted them to do. Finally, the Blue Devils decided to attack the defense and drive into the paint. They finally took their first lead in the first half with 5:45 remaining. After the Blue Devils took the lead for the first time they went on a 34-13 run to end the first half.
After a sloppy first half of basketball the Blue Devils came out ready to put the game away. Barrett and Zion Williamson looked like totally new players in the second half. Williamson took an elbow to the mouth in the first half, causing his mouth to start bleeding. He was later fitted for a mouth-guard and returned to the game scoring 17 points and shooting an efficient six of eight from the floor.
Tre Jones had yet another game with zero turnovers in twenty-four minutes. However, Jones struggled shooting the ball. He only scored only three points and finished one of six from the floor. The freshman point guard continues to provide great on-ball defense and an elite floor general the Blue Devils have lacked in the past few years.
Even though the Tigers were able to give the Blue Devils a fight for most of the first half, it ended up getting away from them ultimately. Here are three takeaways from the Blue Devils first game back from exams.