Duke Basketball: Blue Devils’ top 10 plays through the first 10 games
By Matt Giles
4. The Bolden the beautiful
Opponent: Auburn
Bolden has had his fair share of ups and downs during his time as a Blue Devil. His performance against Auburn in the semifinal of the Maui Invitational, though, included nothing but ups.
He had a career-high seven blocks during the game. He ran the floor like a man determined to show he belonged in a starting lineup that includes four five-star freshmen.
And the totality of his potential contributions to this team was on full display during one single play against the Tigers — in large part due to Bolden’s overall play, Duke came away with the 78-72 win, its fifth straight to start the season before the lone loss of the year against Gonzaga the next day.
Yes, against Auburn, Bolden was beautiful.
With five minutes to play in the game and the Blue Devils leading by 10, Bolden blocked his fifth shot of the night.
But he didn’t stay back and become a spectator after triggering the fast-break opportunity with his block.
After Jones gained possession of the ball, Bolden realized that if he was to dart to the other end of the court, he may have an opportunity to also provide the highlight finish to the play.
And he did exactly that — No. 1 on the video below — off a perfectly thrown alley-oop pass from Jones.