Duke Blue Devils, Duke Blue Devils, Jordan Davis, Spectacular Magazine
Local News Sports

Duke falls to Kansas late in State Farm Champions Classic

Jordan Davis

INDIANAPOLIS, IN — The No. 6 ranked Kansas Jayhawks defeated No. 7 ranked Duke 69-64 on Tuesday night in the State Farm Champions Classic.

Junior forward Jalen Wilson led the way for Kansas, finishing the night with a game-high 25 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. Wilson’s second-half effort on both ends of the floor helped the Jayhawks stage a late run that lifted them over the Blue Devils.

Kansas came out the gate scorching as they went on a 17-6 run led by freshman guard Gradey Dick and senior guard Kevin McCullar Jr. Dick went on to finish with 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field. Both teams struggled throughout the night from beyond the arc, shooting a combined 6-for-40.

Duke managed to keep things close toward the end of the first half as junior guard Jeremy Roach was aggressively attacking the rim all night. Roach scored 10 of his 16 points in the first half and finished the matchup with four rebounds, an assist and a rebound. The Blue Devils went into the halftime break trailing by just four.

A huge takeaway from this matchup was the little involvement of Dereck Lively II in the Blue Devils’ half-court offense. Despite playing in limited minutes following his return from a calf injury, in 21 minutes Lively had just four points on three shots, which both came on putbacks. A lot of the time Lively was put in pick-and-roll action but didn’t get looks as the roller.

“Dereck’s biggest thing right now is getting back in game shape,” Duke head coach Jon Scheyer told reporters after their 84-38 victory over USC Upstate last Friday. “We know his game won’t be back to 100 percent right away and we know that, so we’ll continue to be patient with him on that.”

Duke and Kansas came out of the halftime break trading buckets before the Blue Devils got out on an 8-2 run, giving them their first lead since the score was 4-0 during this swing. The run was sparked thanks to freshman forward Kyle Filipowski’s presence on both ends of the floor. The five-star prospect finished the contest with 17 points and 14 rebounds.

Duke held a five-point lead with just five minutes to go before Gradey Dick scored seven of the Jayhawks’ last 11 points in the final three minutes of action, helping Kansas pull away. The Blue Devils struggled to limit Kansas from scoring at the rim despite Filipowski and Lively manning the paint down the stretch.

The Blue Devils look to bounce back from this loss on Friday as they take on the Delaware Blue Hens at 7 p.m. at home in Cameron Indoor Stadium on ACC Network Extra.