Capsule: Blue Devils set to face troubled Utah State
When: 12:30 p.m.
Where: Cameron Indoor Stadium, Durham
TV/Radio: ESPNU, 96.5-WFLB, 620-WDNC
Projected starting lineups
No. 6 Duke (5-1)
G Derryck Thornton 9.2 ppg, 2.7 apg
G Grayson Allen 22.7 ppg, 4.5 rpg
G Matt Jones 13.8 ppg, 2.3 apg
F Amile Jefferson 11.5 ppg, 10.8 rpg
C Marshall Plumlee 6.2 ppg, 7.3 rpg
Utah State (4-0)
G Darius Perkins 4.5 ppg, 2.0 apg
G Julion Pearre 5.3 ppg, 2.3 rpg
G Chris Smith 16.8 ppg, 7.8 rpg
G/F Jalen Moore 13.3 ppg, 6.8 rpg
F Elston Jones 6.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg
Observations
Utah State was picked to finish third in the preseason Mountain West poll, behind San Diego State and Boise State.
The Aggies were set to return all five starters from last year’s team until forward David Collette blindsided the team by leaving two days before the season opener. In an interview with Yahoo Sports’s Jeff Eisenberg, Collette accused first-year head coach Tim Duryea (an assistant on last year’s staff) of laughing off his request to stop telling players “you might as well shoot yourself in the back of the head” and of telling players to keep secret, even from their families, a fight in practice in which one player allegedly sucker punched another in the back of the head so that the media would not find out.
Utah State disagrees with Collette’s version of the events and denied his request for a release granting him and his family permission to speak with other schools, making it virtually impossible to transfer to another Division I team. Collette is a 6-foot-10 forward who earned third-team all-conference honors as a redshirt freshman last season, averaging 12.8 points and 5.0 rebounds.
Laura Keeley
This story was originally published November 28, 2015 at 6:59 PM with the headline "Capsule: Blue Devils set to face troubled Utah State."