Duke Basketball vs UNC Wilmington: 93 - 85

I said in an earlier post that I thought it would be a good idea for Duke to win the first ACC tournament game and then lose the next so that they could get some rest. That is what happened when they lost to Notre Dame. Was that a good idea? Maybe not, because maybe they got too much rest. Duke didn't seem to play very well in the 1st half. Was that because of rust or was it just their recently normal bad start?

I don't think UNC Wilmington caused Duke to start so slowly. It really felt to me that UNC Wilmington was over-matched. Come half-time when Duke was down 43 - 40, I wasn't too worried. All one needed to do was look at the stat sheet. UNC Wilmington had 2 or 3 players in serious foul trouble.

When the 2nd half started, Marshall Plumlee took over the game. Using Duke's height advantage, they played over the top on UN Wilmington. Duke slowly started to pull away, but props to UNC Wilmington for not giving in. They kept fighting and kept the game close. At one point as Duke was up by double digits, I noticed that Plumlee and Brandon Ingram went to the bench. Was Coach K trying to give Ingram a breather? If so, it didn't last long, because UNC Wilmington closed the gap and the two went back in.

Luke Kennard: We need him to start dropping some baskets. I say 1 week off should have given this freshman some needed rest and he should be playing strong again.

Chase Jeter: Let's hope he can continue to contribute 10 minutes a game. It helps give Plumlee a rest.

Grayson Allen: He didn't shoot particularly well (4 - 12), but he still put up 23 points.

Matt Jones: Some stupid fouls caused him to foul out of the game. He can't do that against Yale.