Veteran Tre Jones leads Duke to exhibition win over NW Missouri State
We’ll have to wait another game to see how good the freshmen are, but for now Duke is OK with leaning on the veterans.
The Blue Devils hosted Division II Northwest Missouri State for the first of two exhibition games and defeated the reigning Division II champions, 69-63.
“That was really a good game for us,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “We knew coming in how good they have been and are and will be.”
The Bearcats went a perfect 38-0 last year and have won three-straight Division II titles. They kept it interesting with the Blue Devils most of the night, pulling to within five with 32 seconds remaining.
Sophomore tri-captain Tre Jones led Duke with 18 points. The second-year guard, who passed up the NBA Draft with three of his Blue Devil classmates a year ago, started the game with a rare dunk and never looked back the rest of the way.
Naturally, Duke leaned heavily on its veterans early in the game. As opposed to previous seasons when rookies led the scoring barrage, this Blue Devils team didn’t get a bucket from a freshman until Vernon Carey’s layup at the 10:38 mark, giving Duke a 13-8 lead.
Jones and seniors Jack White and Javin DeLaurier scored the first 11 points. The rookies came through, combining for 11 of the 28 first-half points as the Blue Devils led by six, 28-22, at the break.
The Bearcats, winners of 105 games over the past three years, wouldn’t go away. They took their first lead, 16-15, after a 3 from Trevor Hudgins and managed to stay within striking distance thanks to 46.2 percent from 3 in the first half.
“Coach said it, that team knows how to win,” Jones said. “Coach even said he thinks they’ll beat a lot of DI teams. It was a good win, especially knowing they shot 15 of 34 (from three) and we were still able to force them into 21 turnovers. It was a lot of good things we took from the game and we can look to improve on.”
After the game Krzyzewski praised the way his team played on the defensive end of the floor.
“Defensively, I thought we did a really good job,” Krzyzewski said. “Not a good job, a really good job. To hold them in the 60s, defensively we were really good.”
Duke started the game 2-of-7 from the floor and didn’t get much production from its second unit of Jordan Goldwire, Cassius Stanley, DeLaurier, Alex O’Connell and Justin Robinson. That group turned the ball over twice, went 3-of-7 from the field and did just enough defensively to hold the lead.
Jones scored consecutive baskets to give Duke a three-point lead, but NW Missouri State’s shooting kept it close.
Jones and Stanley scored a combined five in a row for the Blue Devils’ biggest lead, 26-19, but another 3 from Hudgins made it 28-22 at the break.
Duke forced 14 turnovers in the first half but turned the ball over 11 times. Junior Jordan Goldwire started the second half in place of Carey and scored four quick points to spark the team.
“Really just trying to get in where I fit in,” Goldwire said when asked about getting the start in the second half. “I made a couple of cuts, got a little put back, just easy plays and just trying to defend, getting anything I could.”
The Blue Devils led by double digits most of the second half, finally getting one of its rookies, Hurt, settled in.
The Rochester, Minnesota, resident settled into a grove, playing 29 minutes and finishing with 17 points, scoring four in a row late in the fourth to push the Duke lead to 18. Hurt had 13 points in the second half.
“Of course coach put me in a great spot to score in, at the free throw line,” Hurt said. “My teammates did a great job of spacing it and getting me the ball in the right spots at the right time. I give all the credit to my teammates.”
Outside of Hurt, the other Duke freshmen combined for 15 points.
Hudgins led all scorers with 27 points, including seven three pointers.
“Overall, a really good test for us,” Krzyzewski said. “We beat an outstanding team tonight. They are accustomed to winning basketball games.”
Duke returns home to Cameron on Oct. 30, hosting Fort Valley State in another exhibition.
This story was originally published October 26, 2019 at 9:03 PM.
