Duke starts slow but defense propels the Blue Devils to the win.
For the second game in a row the Blue Devils came out somewhat slowly at home but also for the second straight game the Devils rode freshman R.J. Barrett to victory – this time against Yale, 91 to 58. Yale seemed up to the task in the first half, only yielding a lead of 9 at the half even with 16 first half turnovers. Duke aided the Bulldogs with poor shooting from 3 point range and from the foul line.
The second half was a different story. The Blue Devils came out of the half and did what they hadn’t done – they executed in the half-court. Duke began the second half hitting 6 straight shots and built on their 9 point halftime lead with a 26 to 15 run. Also key for Duke was free throw shooting, the Devils went from shooting 46.7% in the first half to shooting 13 of 16 for 81% in the second.
Defensively Duke held the Bulldogs, who came in 10th in the nation in field goal percentage, to 35% from the field, 15 percentage points off of their average. From the 3 point line the Bulldogs came in shooting 40%, Duke held them to 13% for the game.
Duke’s R.J. Barrett led the Blue Devils with 30 points on 9 of 19 shooting, 7 rebounds and 6 assists. Freshman Zion Williamson added 20 points,8 rebounds and 4 assists on 7 of 11 shooting. Huge for Duke was the bench contribution of 20 points. Junior forward Jack White added 12 rebounds to go along with 9 points off the bench and Alex O’Connell added 6 points.
The Good:
Duke forced 23 turnovers, and had 16 steals.
Held Yale to 35% shooting
24 points off of turnovers
The Bad:
23.8% shooting from 3 point range
46.7% shooting in the first half from the free throw line
15 turnovers
