Hurt Leads Duke Over Boston College 88-49

Duke’s 1st Half

• Matthew Hurt Caught Fire: The six-foot-nine freshman got it going in the first half. The Christian Laettner look-alike had twenty points and was eight for eleven shooting. Most importantly he hit three three-pointers, something Duke struggled to do against Brown.
• Solid Defense: Duke continued to ride their strong defense in this game. They held Boston College to just twenty-eight percent shooting, their lowest first half of the season. Duke had three steals and two blocks and turned the Eagles over nine times. Overall great team defensive effort in the first half.
• Contained Thornton: Derryck Thornton’s heavily anticipated return fell a bit flat in the first half. He hit their opening shot and then struggled the rest of the half. He shot just two for seven, had four points and had no rebounds. Duke knew that Boston College ran through him and they did a great job covering him.

Boston College 1st Half

• CJ Felder Performed: At least one Eagle came to play, and that was CJ Felder. He had seven of Boston College’s nineteen first-half points, shooting three for four. He also gave them three much-needed rebounds and a steal and block as well. It is a shame no one gave him any support, as Duke jumped out to a huge lead.
• Too Many Second Chance Points: One of the big storylines coming into this one was whether Boston College could keep Duke off the glass. They could not in the first half, as they were outrebounded by eleven. What was worse was they gave up seven offensive rebounds, which led to plenty of second-chance points. Those missed rebounds blew the game open for sure.
• Ice Cold From Three: One thing that Boston College had to do in order to win this game was shoot well. They could not get it going from three though, as they went just one for eight on three-pointers. Winning at Cameron Indoor Stadium is tough, especially when you are ice cold from deep.

Halftime Score: Duke 45 Boston College 19

Duke 2nd Half

• Tre Jones Dealing: Tre Jones took over for a five-minute stretch to start the half and put this one away. He had six assists in the first half and added a few more in the second to finish with ten total. Duke’s offense is a well-oiled machine with him at the helm. Oh, and he had just one turnover, which is amazing.
• All-Around Freshmen Scoring: Matthew Hurt may have led the team with twenty-five points but others played well too. Wendell Moore Jr. finished with eleven points and Vernon Carey Jr. and Cassius Stanley both had nine. This team has a ton of young talent, and all of them scored well tonight, especially in the second.
• Must Shoot This Well Consistently: Duke shot the three-ball extremely well tonight. They hit twelve in the game led by Matthew Hurt with five of them. It may not be attainable to hit this many threes every game, but they could hit quite a few. When Duke shoots this well, they are damn well unbeatable.

Boston College 2nd Half

• Felder Continued To Play Well: CJ Felder kept things going in the second half. He finished with thirteen points and six rebounds on fifty percent shooting. Felder also had two blocks in the game, one in each half. This is a game to build off of for Felder.
• More and More Turnovers: The Eagles struggled to take care of the ball all night, especially in the second half. They finished with ten second-half turnovers, which led to Duke blowing the game open. They had to play a near-perfect game and nineteen turnovers are far from that.
• Too Many Easy Baskets: Boston College just gave up too many easy buckets early in the second half. Tre Jones started to have more room to make plays. Vernon Carey dunked and just moments later Tre Jones threw an alley-oop to O’Connell. That cannot happen when you are trying to come back on the road. Blew the game wide open early.

Up Next

Duke is now 2-0 in ACC play and will play their toughest conference opponent to date on Saturday. Duke will travel to Miami to take on the 9-3 Hurricanes, led by Kameron McGusty. Miami just knocked off Clemson on the road in overtime, so they will be riding high. If Duke can land a victory they could move up to first in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Boston College on the opposite side will look to bounce back again Virginia at home. Virginia is strong defensively, but if they can shoot well they have a chance to upset.

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