First Look at Duke: The Blue-White Scrimmage
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by Wrmjr
Pre-season scrimmages aren’t good indicators of how a team will play during the regular season. When a team is pitted against itself, the coaches don’t have the full rotational options, and the players often play differently against guys they see every day in practice than they do against players on opposing teams. Still, last week’s Blue-White scrimmage provided some glimpses into the skills of Duke’s freshman class and the development of some of their returning veterans.
In the first half, the star of the show was freshman Taylor King. King, playing for the Blue team, got off to a hot start and scored 17 points in the first half, making 5 of his 7 attempted 3-pointers. He cooled off considerably in the second half, going just 1 for 7 from the floor (0 for 5 on three pointers). If this game is an indication, he is a streaky shooter with range out to about 25 feet or more. If he is on, he’ll stretch a lot of defenses. On the other side, his defense on the wing still needs work, though he did manage two steals and 6 boards.
Though King had the hot hand early, it was Gerald Henderson who led the team in scoring with 21 points on 9 of 15 shooting. It’s hard to read too much into this performance, though Henderson looked confident in his athleticism during the game. Greg Paulus played point guard for the Blue squad, and he looked more comfortable and mobile on his now-healthy foot. He still turned the ball over 4 times (versus 5 assists), so that is still an area of concern. DeMarcus Nelson added 10 points and some solid defense. Nelson is a known commodity, and nothing in this game set off alarms that he won’t be ready to step it up this year. Brian Zoubek was the final player on the squad. He still has a ways to go in his recovery, and he still looked tentative in the paint. On the bright side, he gathered 10 rebounds and blocked 4 shots to go with his 11 points.
The white squad was led by freshman Nolan Smith. Smith is a very different type of point guard than Paulus, and he could provide a good change of pace during the season. Like Paulus, though, he needs to protect the ball better. He scored 19 points but had only 1 assist and 4 turnovers. On the defensive side, he had 5 steals, which led the team. Another knock on Smith is that he didn’t get the ball enough to John Scheyer on the offensive end. Scheyer managed only 8 points, for which Nelson’s defense deserves some credit. The white team also featured freshman Kyle Singler, who led all scorers with 23 points and also had a game-high 6 offensive rebounds. Freshman Lance Thomas added nine points and backup Jordan Davidson added 5. Steve Johnson did not score in limited playing time.
Overall, this team looked like what most people expected: they are a young group with some good outside shooters. Combined, the two teams were 13-32 from the 3-point arc in a 30 minute game. While that isn’t a blazing percentage, it is clear that they aren’t going to be afraid to shoot from the outside. As a whole the team needs to protect the ball better and improve from the foul line (they shot 16-24 combined).
For those who are interested, the Blue team won 69-64. The exhibition games get underway tonight (November 1) against Shaw University (coached by former Duke star, Robert Brickey). Duke plays another exhibition game on November 3 against Barton College. The regular season opens on November 9. You can find Duke’s whole schedule here.
