What we learned about Duke basketball in its win over Gardner-Webb
Duke’s starters carried the load and the seventh-ranked Blue Devils rolled to their most lopsided win of the young season.
With each of Duke’s starting five scoring in double figures, the Blue Devils built a 20-point halftime lead and rolled to a 92-52 win over Gardner-Webb at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Freshman guard Trevor Keels hit four of his six 3-point attempts while scoring a team-high 18 points to pace Duke (4-0). Junior Wendell Moore added 14 points while sophomore center Mark Williams scored 13. Freshman Paolo Banchero scored 10 as did sophomore guard Jeremy Roach.
Senior forward Joey Baker came off the bench to score 12 points to give the Blue Devils six double-figure scorers as they shot a season-best 57.1% from the field. That included 10 of 22 on 3-pointers.
Gardner-Webb (0-3) shot 36.8% and turned the ball over 17 times.
Here’s what we learned from Duke’s latest win:
No signs of distractions
Playing their first game since two players were involved in a driving while impaired situation, the Blue Devils didn’t appear to let the adversity affect them as a team.
With Banchero in the starting lineup as he faced a charge of aiding and abetting a DWI in Orange County, Duke never trailed by more than a point and took control by building a 47-27 halftime lead.
Junior reserve guard Michael Savarino, charged with DWI in the early Sunday morning incident, was not in uniform and not present on Duke’s bench.
Banchero scored 10 points with eight rebounds in his 26 minutes of play. The scoring output was far below the team-leading 19.3 points he averaged over the season’s first three games.
Mark Williams can still dominate
A 7-0 sophomore center, Williams was Duke’s best player at the end of last season, averaging 16.7 points and 7.8 rebounds in the team’s final six games. On Saturday night, he played just six minutes and scored no points with one rebound, because the Blue Devils went with a smaller lineup to defeat Campbell, 67-56.
But Williams controlled the interior in solid fashion against Gardner-Webb. In addition to his 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting, Williams grabbed three rebounds and blocked six shots.
Duke showed excellent ball movement
Working against Gardner-Webb’s zone defense, the Blue Devils were on top of their passing to set up plenty of open shots.
Duke recorded 13 assists on 19 made field goals in the first half, which led to 61.3% shooting (19 of 31) and a 20-point halftime lead.
Duke finished with 24 assists on 36 made field goals. Jeremy Roach led Duke with six assists as all five of the Blue Devils starters (Roach, Wendell Moore, Paolo Banchero, Mark Williams and Trevor Keels) each recorded at least two assists.
This story was originally published November 16, 2021 at 8:54 PM with the headline "What we learned about Duke basketball in its win over Gardner-Webb."