The 9th ranked Duke Blue Devils, who played three games in five days, had an intriguing matchup at home on Friday night against the Big South’s Campbell. The Fighting Camels jumped out to an early 12-5 lead on a young Duke squad who was in the mist of a back to back, challenging the freshmen’s endurance – something Coach K talked about after their win against Army.
Campbell did something Kentucky nor Army was able to against Duke; make the Blue Devils adapt to Campbell’s style of play – small ball. Sophomore center Mark Williams only played six minutes due to his inability to guard Campbell’s smaller players.
Coach K mentioned during his post game press conference that Theo John logged more minutes at the five position due to his ability to move his feet on defense. Campbell’s head coach shared the same notion during his presser, stating how surprised he was to see Duke switching all five positions – something that wasn’t scouted on film.
Sophomore Jeremy Roach made several significant plays in the paint area – blowing past his defender during the second half and finishing the game with 14 points, 4 assists, and 3 rebounds. Paolo Banchero finished with 18 points and 7 rebounds. Kevin McGeehan, Campbell’s head basketball coach, mentioned on several occasions how impressed he was with Paolo’s game and knew he was the go-to-guy when Duke needed a bucket.
No point may have come during a more crucial time in the ball game than when senior Joey Baker hit a pump fake on a nearby defender – smoothly stroking a silencer from downtown at the four minute mark. Joey shot 3 of 5 from deep, providing the blue devils with some sense of consistency beyond the arc. Duke shot less than 35 percent on the year prior to last night’s game.
More Wendell
A scary point after tip-off, was junior Wendell Moore falling out of bounds with a defender falling on his knee. Some feared it would be a devastating injury. Luckily, a few moments later Wendell came walking back into Cameron to a crowd overjoyed that he was checking himself back in action. Without Wendell Moore’s production, on both ends, we are possibly having a different outcome in yesterday’s contest, which shows you how vital Wendell is to the Duke program.