The arrival of the breakout performance from Duke basketball sophomore Alex O’Connell came at just the right time for the Blue Devils on Saturday night.
It’s a J.J. It’s a Grayson. No, it’s Alex O’Connell. The Superman for the Duke basketball team on Saturday night at Syracuse — well, second in superhero status to freshman R.J. Barrett, who dropped his typical 30 points to go along with seven assists and five boards — drew his first start of the season and put on the best performance of his career.
In other words, it was O’Connell who allowed Duke fans to stop dreading a potential two-game losing skid and momentarily stop thinking about the absence of freshman Zion Williamson — the leading candidate to be Naismith National Player of the Year and the No. 1 draft pick in June remains day-to-day after suffering a Grade 1 knee sprain in the loss to UNC on Wednesday.
O’Connell finished his career-high 34 minutes with a career-high, Grayson Allen-like 20 points, highlighted by a J.J. Redick-like 5-for-8 stroke from 3-point territory (the most 3-point makes of his career). And it was his shooting spark to begin the second half that relieved the worries of the No. 1 Blue Devils (24-3; 12-2 in ACC), leading to a 75-65 revenge win over the Orange (18-9; 9-5 in ACC).
It was the same Orange who had defeated Duke in overtime on Jan. 14 when the Blue Devils were without freshman Cam Reddish for the entire game and fellow freshman Tre Jones for most of the game.
The Blue Devils — who started O’Connell and junior co-captain Javin DeLaurier alongside the three healthy freshmen sensations — trailed, 34-29, at the half due to everyone not named R.J. Barrett (he had 17 points on 8-for-11 shooting going into the locker room) combining for enough bricks to build a small house. Taking out Barrett’s numbers in the first half, the rest of the team was 4-for-19 from the field, including 2-for-14 from beyond the arc, before the break.
But a sharper, hotter squad emerged from the locker room. It was a squad that had obviously learned from its confused, cold performance in the first half and responded by beginning possessions with an attack of the middle of the zone before settling for 3-point attempts.
Ultimately, though, it was the made 3-pointers that ignited the minor comeback, the ever-growing lead, and the 46-31 scoring advantage in the second half. Specifically, it was the makes from the 6-foot-6, 185-pound O’Connell that set the tone.
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The sophomore net-whipper from Roswell, Ga., splashed three 3-pointers during the first 5:15 of the second half — he converted the prettiest of the bunch into a four-point play — boosting his confidence on both ends of the floor and making him look like the best version of himself, which is exactly what Duke fans have long been clamoring for.
Other than Barrett and O’Connell — who also added five rebounds, an assist, and a steal — the only other Blue Devil in double figures was Jones with 11 points (the point guard only shot 2-for-12 from the field but was 6-for-6 from the foul line and added four assists with only one turnover).
Other significant news of the night was Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski’s decision to dye blue the redshirt of Joey Baker. The freshman forward from Fayetteville, N.C., who reclassified to join this team but had not seen any action all season, played only five minutes, grabbed two rebounds, and missed one shot.
Despite the hot hands of O’Connell and Barrett, the Blue Devils as a group finished 9-for-29 from beyond the arc and 26-for-59 from the field.
And defensively, the absence of Williamson was obvious, as Duke only came away with a season-low two steals after averaging 10.5 coming into the game (that was on pace to be a program record).
After receiving flak at the beginning of the season for not playing true road games in out-of-conference play, Duke is now the only team in the country with a 7-0 record in opponents’ arenas.
Up next for the Blue Devils, who are hoping O’Connell’s brilliant play is here to stay, is a chance to bump their road record to 8-0 via a trip to Blacksburg to take on No. 20 Virginia Tech on Tuesday at 7 p.m. (on ESPN).