Duke vs. Army Gameday Live Blog
Duke opens its home season on Friday night with a game against Army West Point.
The opponent is a fitting one to start coach Mike Krzyzewski’s final season at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Coach K played for West Point and began his coaching career there before getting hired away by Duke in 1980.
The Blue Devils have gone 6-0 against the Cadets under Coach K. They last played in Nov. 2018. Three members of this year’s Army team—captains Josh Caldwell and Aaron Duhart, as well as Ben Kinker—played in that game. Caldwell had nine rebounds in that game, while Kinker scored eight points.
Duke has won 39 straight home openers and will be looking to move to 2-0 on the season after beating Kentucky in the Champions Classic in Madison Square Garden on Tuesday to open the year.
This game also marks the return of the Cameron Crazies after Duke played in an empty Cameron Indoor last season due to COVID protocols. This will be the first home game the Blue Devils play with fans in attendance in 616 days.
Several Duke players struggled with cramping in Tuesday’s opener, and, with two games in two days, we may see the Blue Devils go deeper into their bench on Friday to keep everyone rested. That could mean longer looks at AJ Griffin, who is recovering from a preseason injury and logged 11 minutes, freshman Jaylen Blakes, who was scoreless in three minutes, and grad transfer Bates Jones, who didn’t play against Kentucky.
Your starters: Moore, Banchero, Keels, Roach, Williams
Your officials: Les Jones, Ryan Sassano, Jamie Luckie
Duke scores the first 10 while Army misses its first five shots. Cadets have settled down, though and cut the margin to 10-6 by the under 16.
Blue Devils with a 6-0 run of their own to extend the lead again. It stands at 16-11 at the under 12. Blakes has already matched his Tuesday playing time.
Duke turning up the heat on defense. They've had a large number of deflections. They haven't turned many into turnovers, but it's clearly disrupting the Army offense.
At the under eight, Duke is up 23-15. Banchero leads the way with 10 & five rebounds
Not sure what happened but Coach K was upset with something Rucker did. Talked to Army coach then spoke directly to the player.
We're at the under 4, Duke up 25-18.
After the time out, Rucker went to the Duke bench and apologized to K.
Duke forces four turnovers in the final two minutes and closes the half on an 8-0 run to lead at the break, 38-25.
Moore leads all scorers with 11 points, also a team high four assists. Banchero has 10 points and a team-high six boards.
Lead got as big as 15 to start the second half, but Army won't go away. Score at the under 16 is 42-34. Banchero has a 14-11 double-double but he also has five turnovers. Prone to getting stripped as he moves to the basket.
Duke with a 7-0 run. Time out Army. Blue Devils up 49-34, 12:43 left.
Moore feeds Banchero for a dunk, and that gives Moore a triple double. First Blue Devil since RJ Barrett to do that.
Duke with a 6-0 run, fouls out Army big man Charlie Peterson. At the under 4, it's 73-53.
And Duke wraps up the 82-56 win.
