Freshmen Trevor Keels and Paolo Banchero led Duke to a 79-71 win over Kentucky in the season-opening Champions Classic in Madison Square Garden Tuesday night.
Note the placement of the names. Not that Banchero wasn’t everything he was advertised to be. Despite sitting out portions of the second half with leg cramps, Banchero had 22 points and 7 rebounds.
But Keels was the story. He led everyone with 25 points, many of them during a crucial stretch early in the second half, when Kentucky was putting an enormous amount of game pressure on a battered and cramping Duke team.