Canadian RJ Barrett continues to shine, leads Duke to rout of Princeton
Mississauga, Ont., resident scores 27 for No. 2-ranked Blue Devils
A cold offensive start for second-ranked Duke on Tuesday night turned out to be a good sign for coach Mike Krzyzewski. That's because his Blue Devils never let all those missed shots infect the team's defensive focus.
RJ Barrett continued his rookie-season scoring rush, finishing with 27 points to help second-ranked Duke beat Princeton 101-50. Meanwhile, as the offence got rolling to hand Princeton its most lopsided loss in its program history, the defence finished with a bevy of steals, blocks and deflections to earn the approval of the Hall of Fame coach.
"We kept telling them: 'Just don't be down about the offence, you're doing a good job, just keep shooting, keep doing it and don't let it affect the defence,"' Krzyzewski said.
"And they did. So that's good."
Consider it a lesson learned and applied for the freshman-led Blue Devils (10-1), whose high-flying offence has the potential to run past just about anybody. Yet this group has shown the ability to be a get-after-'em defensive team, too, with freshman point guard Tre Jones pressuring the ball surrounded by plenty of length and athleticism on the wings.
Krzyzewski wants his players to focus on the latter, knowing it's likely a matter of time before any off-target shooting corrects itself. And that was obvious Tuesday as Duke opened its first game in more than a week due to an exam break by missing its first eight shots and falling behind 8-0.
Even more unusual of a sight on its famously hostile home court, the Blue Devils didn't take their first lead until more than 14 minutes in.
"We were getting good shots," Barrett said. "We just couldn't make them."
But after a steady start from the Tigers — who caught Duke with some early backdoor cuts — the Blue Devils scored on 10-of-11 possessions to close the first half, then on four more out of the break to take a 48-28 lead. Duke shot 64 per cent after halftime as the game turned into a rout.
"Boy, that's a really good team," Princeton coach Mitch Henderson said. "They're even better in person."
Myles Stephens had 19 points for Princeton (5-5), which led 18-16 before Duke put together an 11-0 run to take over. Princeton shot just 30 per cent for the game, including 8 of 36 (22 per cent) after halftime.