The most pivotal stretch of Duke’s opening night victory over Kentucky was a 16-to-4 run in the early stages of the second half, when Duke turned a one point deficit into a double digit lead. Notably absent from the floor for most of that period were the arguably the Blue Devils’ top three projected players, Paolo Banchero, Wendell Moore, and Mark Williams, replaced by Joey Baker, Theo John, and a clearly less than 100% AJ Griffin.
Raise your hand if you had that on your Champions Classic Bingo Card.
The headlines from Duke’s 79-71 victory over the Wildcats have focused (rightfully so) on transcendent performances from two star freshmen: Banchero’s 22 points (on 7-of-11 shooting and 8-of-9 from the line) despite battling cramps and Trevor Keels’ team leading 25 points.