Exhibition Film Study: Duke vs. Winston-Salem State

It’s Football Time In The Bluegrass™ with the Tennessee Vols coming to Lexington this coming weekend, but let’s not forget Kentucky Basketball begins its season three days later. Believe it or not, we are under one week out from the Champions Classic where tenth-ranked Kentucky will open the new year against ninth-ranked Duke in Madison Square Garden on Tuesday, November 9. Tip-off is set for right around the time you would normally be going to sleep on a weeknight.

Big Blue Nation already got a first look at the new Kentucky via last Friday’s exhibition game against Kentucky Wesleyan, and the Wildcats will get one more exhibition in this coming Friday before flying to New York for the opener. We should have a pretty good feel for John Calipari’s new group by the time the Champions Classic game begins, if you’ve been paying attention.

Duke, however, is a bit of a mystery as Mike Kryszjsewskiswski debuts a brand new team in 2021-22, his final season as head coach of the Blue Devils. Unless you’re a Duke fan or have already done your Champions Classic homework, you probably only know this new Duke team for star freshman Paolo Banchero, who Kentucky wanted; or that Duke won its exhibition game by 68 points. Both are reasons for concern around the Bluegrass a week ahead of the game.

But how good is Banchero? And how bad was that team Duke beat by 68 points last Saturday?

I watched the entire tape to answer those questions and more for this first of many Duke previews to come. Here is what I learned from Winston-Salem State at Duke, a 106-to-38 barnburner.

---

Duke vs. Winston-Salem State

Cameron Indoor Stadium was open to fans for the first time since the 2019-20 season after a year away to flatten the curve and miss the tournament. Over 600 days had passed since the Crazies were allowed into their sanctuary, and they filled the building for Duke’s home exhibition against Winston-Salem State, an HBCU and member of NCAA Division II’s Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association.

Before we learn more about Winston-Salem State and the game, the ACC Network Extra broadcast wanted you to see Duke’s fourth-ranked recruiting class.

The star of the bunch, Paolo Banchero was expected to pick Kentucky at one point in his recruitment but landed at Duke by surprise to give Coach K another big recruiting win over John Calipari. Banchero is in the conversation for the No. 1 overall pick next summer. He’s good.

Another projected top-10 pick, small forward AJ Griffin had a Kentucky offer too; as did Trevor Keels, a five-star shooting guard. Keels picked up his offer from Calipari late in the game when Keels had already narrowed his search to Duke and Villanova. On Duke’s end, it’s yet another recruiting win.

The fourth freshman on the graphic is Jaylen Blakes, a four-star point guard who never really caught Kentucky’s eye in high school. He came off the bench in the exhibition game and looks to be the backup point guard.

Now for the action.

Duke’s starting five and quick start

Duke started Jeremy Roach (So.), Trevor Keels (Fr.), Wendell Moore Jr. (Jr.), Paolo Banchero (Fr.), and Mark Williams (So.), and it didn’t take long to realize Winston-Salem State was completely outmatched. Duke has the ACC Preseason Player of the Year in Banchero and the 6-foot-10, do-it-all forward scored the first points by bullying his way into an offensive rebound and putting Wendell Moore Jr.’s missed jumper back in with ease. The 6-4 guards assigned to Banchero, bless their hearts, had a long night.

Trevor Keels also got it going early. He made his first career 3-point try on Duke’s second possession (following a Banchero rebound, of course). Banchero ended up with nine boards in only 20 minutes played. Keels made one more 3-pointer later in the half.

Duke made another 3-pointer on its next trip down the floor, this time by Moore Jr. The Preseason All-ACC Second Team selection hit both of his 3-point attempts in the game, coming off seasons of 30.1% (2020-21) and 20.1% (2019-20) shooting from outside.

As a team, Duke went 7-for-12 from 3-point range in the first half.

The Blue Devils scored 37 points in the first 10 minutes of the fake game.

Winston-Salem State

If the obvious talent gap between the home and visiting sides wasn’t enough, Winston-Salem State was playing its first organized basketball since February of 2020. To be fair, the Rams’ last game was the 2020 CIAA conference championship, a game they won in thrilling fashion with a steal and three free throws in the final seconds. But that was before the CIAA sat out the entire 2020-21 basketball season due to COVID concerns and a complete overhaul of the Rams’ roster.

Winston-Salem State returned only four players from that CIAA championship team, and the new Rams had only two weeks of practice to prepare for Duke. Adding to the list of disadvantages, Winston-Salem State was severely outsized with four guards and a 6-7 forward against Banchero and 7-footer Mark Williams inside.

Mark Williams is huge

Duke sophomore center Mark Williams was a nightmare for Winston-Salem State, but it’s unclear if that’s because Mark Williams is a nightmare or because Winston-Salem State needed to get on each other’s shoulders to guard him. Whatever the case, Williams made all five of his shots and blocked four others in the first half.

Williams came on late in the year last season and enters 2021-22 as a Preseason All-ACC Second Team selection. He will see a big jump in competition when he goes from Winston-Salem State to Oscar Tshiebwe, but the 7-footer is still a player to watch as you make your pre-Champions Classic mental notes. He’ll be a problem around the rim.

AJ Griffin cleared to play

The second-ranked freshman in Duke’s class, Griffin is a five-star small forward with high NBA potential. However, he suffered a knee injury in practice early in October, leaving his status unknown for the season-opener against Kentucky. Reports projected four to six weeks for recovery at the time of the injury on October 8.

Griffin’s recovery must’ve gone well because he dressed and played 17 minutes in Duke’s exhibition, meaning you can expect to see him in Duke’s rotation next Tuesday night.

He had 10 points, six rebounds, and five fouls in the slaughtering of Winston-Salem State. He missed four of nine free throws though.

At the half: Duke up 50

Duke took a 50-point lead into halftime with a score of 63-13 through 20 minutes in Cameron Indoor. I thought the dancing taco was a little low-class while holding a lead that big against an inferior opponent from within the state.

Kentucky at least let Kentucky Wesleyan hang around in good sportsmanship.

In that lopsided first half, Duke shot 67.6% from the field on 25-of-37 shooting with 17 assists on those 25 made shots, while turning the ball over only twice. Those numbers suggest Duke is one of the best basketball teams of all time, but, again, Winston-Salem State.

Winston-Salem State shot 13.3% on 4-for-30 shooting and NO assists in the first half. Great defense by Duke? Let’s hope not. They were trapping while up double digits.

With a minute to go, four Duke starters either matched or exceeded Winston-Salem State’s entire team in scoring. The Rams hit a 3-pointer with 30 seconds left to get back ahead of Keels, Roach, and Williams, and tie Banchero with 13 points going into the locker room. Banchero finished with 21.

Second half: More blowout

Duke continued to run up the score in the second half, driven by the reserve players on the court to start. The starting five checked in as a unit for six more minutes midway through the action, then Roach, Keels, Moore Jr., Banchero, and Williams went to the bench for the night in a shift change.

Marquette transfer Theo John and senior Joey Baker are two of the players coming off Duke’s bench. The former was an every-game starter at power forward for Marquette last season; the latter a classmate of Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett, Cam Reddish, and Tre Jones. John is a force on the interior.

But most of the bench minutes went to the other two freshmen, Jaylen Blakes and Griffin, plus Davidson transfer big man Bates Jones. Those three played the entire second half outside of the last six-minute run for Duke’s starring cast.

Free throw shooting, not great

If there is one positive takeaway for Duke haters (you and me) in the exhibition’s box score, it’s that Duke struggled from the foul line. Of all people, Duke’s star freshmen, Banchero and Griffin, added the most bricks to Duke’s 19-for-29 night.

Banchero missed three of his seven attempts, only to be outdone by Griffin’s aforementioned 4-of-9 shooting. They were the two main culprits at the line.

Duke still loves that one Cascada song about touching

The crowd went crazy when Duke band’s played Cascada – “Every Time We Touch.”

KSR was unable to confirm that the man in the sweater is not Mitch McConnell.

Final Breakdown

Now that I’ve given two hours of my life to a Duke exhibition game (two hours I will never get back), I see Duke with a roster similar to Kentucky’s with a balance of star freshmen, returning players, and new transfers for added experience. Paolo Banchero looks to be as advertised and will be a problem for Keion Brooks and Kentucky’s power forward spot. He was a huge miss in recruiting and how he plays may decide the entire game.

Williams will also be a load to handle opposite Banchero in the paint, but he is more length and lank than muscle. Oscar Tshiebwe might be able to move him around and certainly has the upper hand in quickness, but will need to avoid any and all foul trouble. Backup power forward Theo John will add physicality off Duke’s bench. He has 40 pounds and four years of college basketball on Daimion Collins.

In the backcourt, Duke looks good but no better than Kentucky and with less experience. Coach K has them running and gunning on offense and pressing on defense, so expect some fast-paced basketball. The Blue Devils showed they can get hot too, having made seven of their first nine 3-pointers. The reserves helped cool things off and the team finished 4-for-18 after the hot start for an 11-for-27 night overall. That’s still 40% as a group.

Defensively, it was hard to tell how well each player can guard because the talent discrepancy was so much. Duke was pressing and trapping and causing havoc, but Kentucky will put up a much better fight than Division II Winston-Salem State and should do better than 19 turnovers to two assists. Then again, the talent gap was pretty wide in Kentucky’s exhibition and Kentucky Wesleyan had a guy score 29, so pointing to suffocating talent to discredit Duke is a bit unfair. Kentucky won its exhibition by only 23.

Overall, Duke is good, but the 68-point blowout shouldn’t scare you.

And under no circumstances should you waste your time watching Duke before Tuesday.