After a major win on Saturday against the Virginia Cavaliers, the Duke Basketball team is back in action tonight against the Pittsburgh Panthers.
Against former Associate Head Coach Jeff Capel, Mike Krzyzewski rolled out the same starting five against the Pittsburgh Panthers as he did against the Virginia Cavaliers.
Without Tre Jones, the Blue Devils started R.J. Barrett, Cam Reddish, Jack White, Zion Williamson, and Marques Bolden.
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The game plan was clear from the beginning for Duke; Get the ball to Zion Williamson and let him go to work.
Williamson finished the first half with 19 points, five rebounds, two assists, and a block, on nine of nine shooting.
After a quick start from the Blue Devils to open this game, the Panthers were able to respond, but Duke proved to be too much for Pittsburgh as after took a 16-15 lead it was all Blue Devils after that, as Duke leads 44 – 25 at halftime.
Duke was able to find some consistency from the 3-point arc, making four of ten from beyond the arc, led by Cam Reddish with two 3-pointers, which added to his six points, five rebounds, and three assists.
R.J. Barrett took a lot of shots in the first half, 13 to be exact. He was able to make only four of those attempts for 12 points, two rebounds, and two assists.
Jordan Goldwire was able to provide some great minutes, totaling two steals, but a blown layup costed the sophomore at his chance for some first half points.
Javin DeLaurier picked up two fouls in the first half, but he also missed layup which ended his consecutive made field goals streak at 19 as he was trying to tie Alaa Abdelnaby‘s ACC record.
In the first 20 minutes Duke was able to show the size discrepancy as the Blue Devils were able to grab ten offensive rebounds.
In the second half, the Blue Devils just need to continue its consistent play and avoid injuries as they have proven to be far superior than Pittsburgh.
Stay tuned to Ball Durham on Twitter, @Ball_Durham, and here at our website, balldurham.com, for complete coverage of the Duke Blue Devils vs. the Pittsburgh Panthers.