DURHAM -- After all the talk about how heavily Duke will rely on Jon Scheyer and Kyle Singler for scoring this season, Nolan Smith wants to be part of that discussion as well.
Smith scored 11 of the first 19 points on his way to a game-high 25 in Friday's Blue and White Game, not a bad start for a player who averaged 8.4 points per game last season in a variety of roles.
The junior led the White team to a blowout win in the first half, then switched sides at halftime as the score was reset to zero. On his new team, he made two free throws with 0.8 seconds on the clock to give the Blue team the second-half win.
That's the kind of offense he expects to contribute this time around.
"Definitely," Smith said. "I want to be aggressive all year long. That's what the team wants from me."
The scrimmage was the highlight of Friday's "Countdown to Craziness" event, and the game was preceded by the usual hoopla, highlighted by a series of video skits starring the basketball team, guest-coaching appearances by Christian Laettner and Bobby Hurley, and spotlighted introductions in a darkened Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The players chose their own music, and after Smith, in blue sunglasses, danced his way onto the floor to Jay-Z, Brian Zoubek upstaged him by doing the same to Vanilla Ice.
It was all Smith after that, from the scrimmage to the postgame dunk contest. Oleg Czyz and Andre Dawkins shared that title, but Smith made the biggest splash when he took off his uniform to reveal a retro No. 24 Johnny Dawkins get-up, complete with short-shorts.
Going into the game, much of the attention was focused on two of the newest arrivals: Liberty transfer Seth Curry and freshman guard Andre Dawkins. And while Smith was the big star, Curry and Dawkins both impressed.
Dawkins, who accelerated his enrollment to help Duke's depth issues in the backcourt, didn't look out of place and threw down a pair of monster dunks, while Curry struggled to find his scoring touch until he hit three long 3-pointers late in the second half.
"Both of them are great players," Smith said.
