Jabari Parker Leads Duke Into Preseason NIT Final - SCACCHoops.com

Jabari Parker Leads Duke Into Preseason NIT Final

by Duke Sports Blog

Posted: 11/28/2013 7:58:28 AM


Game Central

Game Recap

New York- Duke started slow, but turned things around late in the first half to secure a win over the Alabama Crimson Tide and advance to the NIT Tip-Off Championship Friday against No. 4 Arizona.

Jabari Parker was again a scoring machine netting 27 points points and grabbing 8 rebounds. Quinn Cook added 17 points but added only 2 assists.

With Drexel giving Arizona all they could handle in the first game, the Alabama wanted to come out and knock off Duke in their home away from home,  Madison Square Garden. The Tide had a nice start and kept Duke on the ropes for well into the second half, despite falling behind double digits on more than one occasion.

Matt Jones was a pleasant surprise off the bench in the first half scoring 6 points, the only Duke bench scoring of the first half. He ended with 13 points on the night and also provided some solid perimeter defense. Rasheed Sulaimon who has struggled all year continued to struggled and only made 1 free throw off the bench.

Mike Krzyzewski, clearly unhappy with his team’s performance in their victory over Vermont, went with a starting lineup of Parker, Cook, Rodney Hood, Josh Hairston and Tyler Thornton.

Duke opened the second half with a nice run and build a cusion, but Alabama got right back into it by pressing the Blue Devils and forcing turnovers and bad possessions. With 12:21 left the Crimson Tider were down only 6, 40-46. That was as close as the score would get, until 56-51, but Duke managed to  hold off both runs.

Parker took control of the second half and showed the few fans at MSG why he is one of the best players in the country. He and Cook provided a majority of the scoring for the Blue Devils, which is nothing new for Parker who has scored 20 or more points in all seven of his games this season.

Hood who has been Parker’s partner in crime all year struggled with foul trouble and was limited on minutes and didn’t look comfortable playing on the big stage. He ended the game fouling out and ended with just 8 points.

Another lackluster offensive performance from the Devils will haunt them into Thanksgiving, and they will have to lay off the Turkey tomorrow to be ready for Arizona on Friday.

 

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