The Blue Devils came to NC Central last night and showed out. The first game of the night featured Mississippi St. sophomore transfer Rodney Hood against a team that featured NC Central players Ray Willis and Dominique Sutton (who had just got back from the Las Vegas Summer League where he played for Orlando).
Hood finished with 13pts and 6rbs, while playing the center position for his team most of the time. Things I noticed from courtside was how powerful Rodney is, he attacks the rim and slams the ball down with such authority. When on offense, Hood seemed to make it his goal to throw down every rebound he got his hands on. Hood has great handles, looked good going ISO and when he put the ball on the floor he got in the paint easy and scored well. Hood also held his ground on D while playing the center position and he had no problem checking Dominique Sutton.
In the second game of the night Duke fans were treated to a double dose of Rodney Hood, joined by Quinn Cook and Amile Jefferson. Hood teamed up with his Blue Devil teammates to face Dominique Sutton and Alex Johnson’s team, although all three had played in the first game Rodney wasn’t needed much in this game. The reason why Hood wasn’t needed much you may ask? Well the answer is because incoming freshman Amile Jefferson and Sophomore Quinn Cook led the team to a big blowout combining for 53 points between the two. Quinn Cook had 24pts (20 at the half) and 8asts, the word I had for his performance was… Amazing. Quinn looked great on D, had active hands and applied good ball pressure. On offense Quinn couldn’t be stopped, he really put on a show highlighted by cross-over moves, head fakes and ankle breakers galore. Quinn was on fire in the first half, I only counted two or three missed shots in the whole half. Quinn blew by his defender constantly getting to the rim for a lay up or dishing a dime to an open teammate, also his jumpers were falling. The NC Pro-Am is really giving our Blue Devils a chance to develop chemistry on the court. Both Quinn and Amile played so well and the game was so out of reach that they got plenty of time to rest in the second half.
How many dunks did Amile Jefferson have last night? I stopped counting and just kicked back and enjoyed the show. Amile had no problem getting out ahead of the pack down the court for a dunk or doing the dirty work under the basket and strongly finishing plays. Amile had 29pts (17pts at the half) and 5rbs last night and also looked good on D. Amile was able to take his defender off the dribble and run Iso plays. He was able to score through contact and finished well around the rim. Amile also knocked down FT’s, showed off his mid-range game and moved without the ball well. Seth Curry was also in the building last night supporting his teammates and Blue Devil fans left NC Central all smiles.
