Duke Basketball: Halftime report as the Blue Devils take on Yale
The Duke Basketball team is up on the Yale Bulldogs at halftime before the Blue Devils take a week off due to final exams.
It didn’t take long to have a curveball in this game as Javin DeLaurier joined the starting lineup for the first time this season, replacing Marques Bolden.
DeLaurier joined the four freshman, Tre Jones, Cam Reddish, R.J. Barrett, and Zion Williamson on the floor to start the game.
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In the first four minutes of the game Yale made it know that they would be coming to play and would not be in awe of the moment, but in his first start DeLaurier made his presence known with six early points.
The junior captain would finish the first half with just those six points, but he looked like the Javin DeLaurier Duke fans expected to see this year, running the floor efficiently and cleaning up missed shots.
The Bulldogs were led by their best player, Miye Oni, who finished the first 20 minutes with ten points, despite trailing Duke 41 – 32 at the break.
R.J. Barrett led the Blue Devils with 12 points in the first half, but Tre Jones was the best player on the floor for Duke as he was constantly causing havoc on the defensive end of the floor, while creating offense and setting up his teammates.
Jones finished the opening 20 minutes with four points, one rebound, two assists, and three steals.
Zion Williamson sat for a good portion of the first half due to foul trouble, but he made his presence known with seven points, four rebounds, two assists, and a steal.
Coming off the bench, Alex O’Connell and Jack White made their presences felt as O’Connell finished with six points, one rebound, assist, and steal and White had four points, six rebounds, an assist, three steals, and two blocks.
Look for the Blue Devils to extend its lead in the second half by continuing to use its defense to create offense as Yale had 16 turnovers in the first half.
Stay tuned to Ball Durham at our Twitter, @Ball_Durham, and here at our website, balldurham.com, for complete coverage of the Duke Blue Devils vs. the Yale Bulldogs.