Tre Jones Stars As Duke Pulls Away From Georgia State
Duke improved to 4-0 on the season with a 74-63 win over Georgia State at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Friday.
The Blue Devils struggled with the Panthers in the early going as the experienced Georgia State guards forced 10 Duke turnovers in the first half.
Duke also struggled from the outside, hitting just 3-of-14 from three before halftime.
The only bright spots for Duke were guard Tre Jones, who hit all three of Duke’s first-half treys, in five attempts, and center Vernon Carey, who hit halftime one rebound shy of a double-double. Jones and Carey combined to score 28 of Duke’s 36 points at the break.
“I was pretty confident that we would come out and compete,” Georgia State coach Robert Lanier said. “Our message to the team was that there was going to come a time during the game, either late in the first half or early in the second half where we were going to have to deal with some real adversity in this building. And adversity came and we didn’t handle it quite as well as I would have hoped.”
Duke was able to pull away in the second half, although the Blue Devils still committed seven turnovers and went 4-of-14 from three after the break.
The Blue Devils controlled the boards, however, pulling down 30 offensive rebounds, its most in a game since 1968. Overall, Duke outrebounded Georgia State by 26.
Jones finished 10-of-19 from the field for a career-high 31 points and played the full 40 minutes. He also had 6 assists and 4 steals.
“Trey was magnificent,” coach Mike Krzyzewski said.
Vernon Carey was the only other Blue Devil in double figures, finishing with 20 points and 14 rebounds.
The game was part of the 2K Empire Classic. The even concludes in New York City next weekend with a four-team elimination. Duke will play California in the first game, then either Texas or Georgetown.
