Duke Cruises at Home Despite Outside Noise

DURHAM, NC- The Duke University Blue Devils defeat the Gardner-Webb Bulldogs 92-52, led by Trevor Keels with 18 points, Duke University gets their second-biggest win of the season.

Early in the first half of play, the game could have gone either way. Just eight minutes into the first half there were 10 lead changes. The Bulldogs came to play.

Duke racked nine turnovers in the first half alone. Unfortunately for Gardner-Webb, their neck-to-neck play was not sustainable.

With nine minutes to play in the first half, Duke went on a 33-14 run. Ending the half 47-27.

Keels scored 16 of his 18 in the first half. The 6’4 Freshman guard is living up to the five-star rating I would say. Keels ended the first half making his last five shots. He only missed one shot the entire half and it was a three-pointer.

The second half went similarly. Duke opened the half on an 11-2 run and did not quite slow down the rest of the game.

Now, Gardner-Webb did not just lay down and let the Blue Devils run all over them. They still played with intensity and aggression.

Lance Terry, a Junior guard, went 50% from the field with 15 points. He was the second-highest scorer of the game, only behind Keel.

An oddity did occur in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Duke’s statistical leader and five-star forward, Paolo Banchero scored only 10 points and struggled from the floor a bit.

Before tonight’s performance, Banchero averaged 19.3 points, and 8.7 reb rebounds a game. Although he still brought down eight rebounds, he scored just 10. With five coming in each half.

Now for most college forwards, this is a productive night, but not for Banchero. He shot 44% from the field tonight; his next lowest of the season is 63%.

In truth, I did not expect him to play tonight anyway. After the debacle involving him and Michael Savarino, Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s grandson, there was no guarantee he would be on the floor.

For clarification, the two players were both arrested in Orange County and were charged with DWI-related offenses.

Coach K said today that they are dealing with the incident internally. He went on to say that Banchero’s start tonight was because “They are two very different situations.”

No doubt alluding to the fact that Banchero was not the one driving the car.

Yet the outside noise, speculation, and criticism did not seem to slow down or deter the Blue Devils. They still managed to win by 42 points and get six players into double-digit scoring.

Duke, (4-0, ACC, 0-0) will now square off against Lafayette College, this Friday.