Trio of Blue Devils Too Much for Gators at the Garden

Tuesday, December 6

New York, NY

9 PM

Florida Gators

Duke

Duke freshman forward Jayson Tatum was one of three tough covers for the UF defense during Tuesday night's win for the Blue Devils at Madison Square Garden.

Trio of Blue Devils Too Much for Gators at the Garden

Wednesday, December 7, 2016 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry

Box Score Photo Gallery by Tim Casey and Allison Deutch

Three Duke players combined to score 75 points. UF scored 74.

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

NEW YORK — The biggest storyline of the young basketball season at Duke — which makes it one of the biggest storylines in all of college basketball — has focused on the slew of injuries to a freshman class being painted as one of Coach Mike Krzyzewski's greatest ever.

The storyline after the fifth-ranked Blue Devils defeated No. 21 Florida 84-74 in Tuesday night's Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden focused on what kind of team Duke might have if it ever gets completely healthy.

Answer: a lethal one.

Try to let this sink in. The Gators (7-2) did not play badly. In fact, they played well enough, and certainly hard enough, to keep themselves in relative striking distance.

And yet they were outscored by three Duke players.

Sophomore forward Luke Kennard poured in 29 points, fifth-year senior forward Amile Jefferson threw in 24 and freshman Jayson Tatum added 22. Add 'em up, that's 75 points, compared to UF's 74. The Blue Devils (9-1), who came in as the No. 1-rated team in the nation in offensive efficiency, shot 52.5 percent for the game, including 61 overall in the second half, 56 percent from the 3-point line (5-for-9) and knocked down all 10 free throws to erase any hope of a Florida comeback.

They did it against a UF team that had put up top-10 defensive efficiency numbers thus far, yet got pillaged by the Kennard-Jefferson-Tatum three-headed monster to the tune of 29-for-42 from the floor. That's 69 percent. Kennard (5-for-7 from the arc) and Tatum (7-for-12 from the field) either got open shots or created something for themselves. Jefferson was a 6-foot-9, 225-pound terror around the basket, finishing with 15 points on 11-for-15 from the floor.

"I thought Amile Jefferson was absolutely amazing, the way he anchored their defense, rebounded it offensively and defensively, and scored it on-on-one," UF coach Mike White said. "It just seemed like, if we got one step out of position — whether it was an offensive rebound or a kick-out, or it was just a little over-help on [Jefferson] — it put us in scramble mode and they made us pay for every one."

It was usually Kennard, who twice bombed 3-point shots after a tough UF defensive possession was undermined by giving up an offensive rebound. Sometimes Jefferson, who manhandled the Gators' bigs down low. Or Tatum, who did a little bit of everything, scoring inside and out, grabbing eight rebounds and going 8-for-8 from the line.

Maybe this is a good time to remind everyone that Harry Giles, the 6-10, 230-pound freshman point forward considered the top NBA prospect in the nation, warmed up during pre-game, but was held out. Giles, who missed his entire senior year of high school due to a knee injury, has yet to play his first college game. Scouts have compared him to Kevin Garnett.

Oh, and 6-11, 245-pound freshman center Marques Bolden, who made his Duke debut alongside Tatum last Friday, played just two minutes against the Gators.

Neither was needed.

"That's a good [problem] to have," Krzyzewski said afterward. "I'm just anxious to get them all at practice. They'll fit in. They'll all respond. They're good kids and they're all about winning."

Sophomore guard KeVaughn Allen led UF with 21 points. Junior center John Egbunu struggled offensively down low, making just 2 of 10 shots, but grabbed a season-high 12 rebounds. Junior forward Devin Robinson hit double-figure scoring for seventh time in eight games with 11 points. Point guard Kasey Hill stuffed the box score, too.

The Blue Devils just stuffed it better. Three of them.

"Give them credit," Egbunu said. "They played a helluva game. And they have a lot of good players."

The Gators stared down the Blue Devils for the game's first 15 minutes and led 28-26 with five minutes to go in the half after Allen knocked down a 3-point shot. From there, though, UF made just one of its final six shots of the half, while Duke put in 6 of 10, including a spinning, driving take by Tatum at the buzzer for a 10-point halftime lead.

"They made shots off of our mistakes," said Hill, who had another nice game with 13 points, seven rebounds, six assists and just two turnovers. "We got back in the locker room and talked about it and did a great job of staying together."

Good enough to whittle the margin to six early in the period, then seven a couple more times. Three times Kennard answered UF baskets with 3-pointers, twice off offensive rebounds.

When forward Justin Leon nailed a 3 with 2:28 to go, the Duke lead was 78-71 and after a timeout the Gators got a turnover on defense. With a chance to cut the lad to five (maybe four), Allen, in transition, tried to force a pass on a drive to the basket. The play turned into a turnover and run-out layup for Kennard.

"Our guys were playing really hard. The stage was big. [We] had an opportunity to play against Duke," White said. "Sometimes, we just tried to make something happen out of nothing."

On the other end, when Kennard wasn't creating his own shot or Jefferson wasn't powering in the post, the Blue Devils extra-passed (and sometimes extra-extra passed) to get a great shot. That's what great teams do.

Even great ones on the verge of becoming greater.