Duke Basketball: Blue Devils’ frontcourt is weak without Zion Williamson

Duke basketball freshmen Cam Reddish and R.J. Barrett carried the team to a win with Zion Williamson sidelined for the second half Saturday, but the Blue Devils can ill afford to be without their jolly giant for long.

Without freshman Zion Williamson during the second half of Saturday’s 80-78 thank-the-right-hand-of-Cam-Reddish win at Florida State, the Duke basketball bigs looked downright small and weak.

Not only that, but juniors Marques Bolden, Javin DeLaurier, and particularly Jack White appeared to suffer from a lack of confidence once it became clear that the Incredible Hulk would not reenter the game (Williamson took a finger to the eye near the end of the first half and never returned because he had double-vision; the latest word is that Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski is “hopeful” he will be back in the lineup when the No. 1 Blue Devils host unranked Syracuse on Monday at 7 p.m. on ESPN).

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WIthout the 6-foot-7, 285-pound solid rock for more than a half, an opponent ended up outrebounding Duke for the first time this season (39-34). Yes, the Seminoles were ultra-physical — no surprise considering the refs allowed it, often to the extreme — but they weren’t the first aggressors in the paint that the Blue Devils have faced this season. Williamson, despite only logging 17 minutes, was the team’s leading rebounder with eight.

WIthout Williamson for more than a half, the Blue Devils tallied a total of three blocks for the game — barely more than a third of their season average (7.9).

Without Williamson for more than a half, DeLaurier finished with zero points, zero rebounds, and zero blocks despite playing 16 minutes. White had three points, three rebounds, zero blocks, and one steal (all well below his season averages) while seeing 25 minutes of action. Bolden — who contributed three points, five rebounds, and two blocks across 24 minutes — seemed to play the best of the three in the second half but was far from being spectacular.

Simply put, with Zion, the team’s inside presence is among the nation’s best; without Zion, the inside presence looks like a bit of a present — a gift of easy baskets and rebounds — to other teams. Duke’s junior bigs obviously feed off his size, his athleticism, his playmaking, and his unparalleled amounts of energy on both ends of the floor — not to mention his confident disposition and opponent-rattling dunks.

When Williamson attracts all the attention, all three junior bigs are at least adequate at fulfilling their roles — White has been, for the most part, sensational. However, when they are asked to shine without him, that appears to be a different story — a story that fortunately ended with a win this time around.

In addition to the impact of Zion’s absence to the team’s strength in the paint, the Blue Devils’ overall defensive excellence took a blow in the second half. Seven steals for the game (four below the season average; Zion remains the squad’s leader in this category for the season, averaging 2.1 per game). Plus, in the first half, the Seminoles committed 11 turnovers; in the second half, that number was six.

And when it comes to offense, without Zion, one fact becomes abundantly clear: The best options for scoring — seemingly the only options at times — are from R.J. Barrett and Cam Reddish, who combined for 35 of Duke’s 42 points in the second half.

Luckily, without Zion for most of the game, the team finally finished with an exceptional performance from downtown (11-for-24 after entering the game barely making 32 percent for the season). That was one of the few columns in the box score Saturday with a Blue Devil advantage.

But can the shooting strokes of Barrett and Reddish consistently carry this group of Blue Devils if Zion doesn’t soon return or has to sit out in the future for extended periods due to foul trouble?

Not sure. And don’t really want to have to find out.