No. 3 Duke (24-3) swept Illinois (17-11) off its feet, winning in convincing fashion at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night in New York City. The Blue Devils defeated the Illini 110-67, continuing their dominant season thus far and adding yet another game to their opponents’ loss column. Illinois picked up its third loss in a row.
0-16: Illini shooting continues to disappoint
Illinois could not buy a three-pointer in the first half. The Illini went scoreless from deep, shooting 0-16 in the first 20 minutes. Most were relatively good looks, besides a couple of step-back isolation threes from freshman guard Kasparas Jakučionis, but nothing found the bottom of the net
“I liked our looks tonight,” said head coach Brad Underwood. “And we make them in practice. I loved our looks in the first half. I thought Kasparas took a couple (questionable ones), but he has the ability to make those.”
Fans and media alike have really questioned Illinois’ approach to continue shooting a high volume of threes when missing has become the norm and a good night a surprise. Some people are just fed up with the team playing that way.
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“Stop shooting threes you a**hole,” shouted an Illinois fan in the stands after sophomore wing Jake Davis missed his second three. It was Illinois’ fifteenth missed triple in a row.
Underwood has stressed all season that he will keep telling his squad to shoot threes, and that hasn’t changed despite a poor percentage most of the year.
“We’ve got to find a way to make shots,” Underwood said. “We’re a team that’s made fifteen threes three or four times. And we’ve got to make shots. I don’t have an explanation. I ask them in the locker room. Help me figure out what that is.”
Boswell solid offensively, slows down Flagg early
Junior guard Kylan Boswell was a major bright spot for the Illini in an otherwise ugly half. On the offensive end, Boswell was efficient, scoring eight points on 4-5 shooting. His only miss was a three-pointer. Every bucket made came inside the arc, with Boswell showing a continued willingness to attack the basket.
Boswell was also strong defensively in the first 20 minutes. The 6-foot-2 Boswell was assigned to guard Duke’s 6-foot-9 star freshman forward Cooper Flagg. Flagg, who is basically the consensus first-overall pick ahead of the 2025 NBA Draft, struggled to find an offensive rhythm in the first half.
Boswell’s tough and physical on-ball defense overcame his seven-inch height deficit. He held Flagg to 1-4 from the field in the first half. Flagg’s six first-half points came mostly at the free throw line (4-4).
“I thought we did a really good job on (Flagg) in the first half,” Underwood said. “We fought his catches. Kylan Boswell played underneath him some. I thought (Boswell) was terrific.”
Blue Devils dominate down low
Illinois did not seem to know what a rebound was in the first half. While both teams were almost even on defensive rebounds, Duke cleaned up a ton of offensive rebounds, hammering the Illini down low.
The Blue Devils outrebounded the Illini 8-5 on the offensive glass and capitalized on their opportunities much more often. Duke had 14 second-chance points, scoring almost every time it got the ball back off a miss. Illinois only had four second-chance points and did not match up well with a more physical opponent.
“(We need to) be tougher,” Jakučionis said.
Freshman forward Morez Johnson Jr., out with a broken wrist, is a prolific offensive rebounder and their most physical and athletic player in the paint. While Johnson may not have made up for all of Duke’s 54-37 halftime lead, his presence was sorely missed by Illinois under the basket.
“(Morez) is a beast for sure, he definitely holds us down,” said junior guard Tre White. “But like we were saying in the locker room, (Morez) wasn’t averaging 25 rebounds, you know? So definitely we have to pick it up for the rest of the team. That’s our mentality. We shoot threes and we rebound. So if we’re not making threes we’ve got to rebound.”
Duke comes out on fire in second half
The Blue Devils came out with high energy to start the second half. A 9-0 run in the first 3:25 of the final 20 minutes was propelled by two massive dunks from Flagg. Illinois missing its first four shots and not showing much fight didn’t help either.
“We’re playing hard; I don’t doubt our effort,” Underwood said. “But you’ve got to fight to make winning plays and do what’s right for your teammate. Big difference between playing hard and competing. Competing to win.”
Illinois ended the run on two free throws by Jakučionis. The Illini finally hit a three-pointer moments later, with sophomore center Tomislav Ivišić ending the drought from deep on the team’s eighteenth attempt.
That momentary positive for the Illini didn’t last long, though. Boswell missed a three, and then Flagg attacked the basket on the other end, making the layup, drawing a foul and flexing as he screamed. He converted the free throw to complete the three-point play, extending Duke’s lead to 24.
Flagg’s strong second half built on Blue Devils’ all-around first
Flagg may not have contributed much in the first half, but the rest of Duke’s roster showed out. The Blue Devils had five players score at least eight points in the first half, and the team shot 54.5% from the field, including making half of their three-pointers.
Most impressive was freshman wing Isaiah Evans, who only played six of the first 20 minutes but tied for a team-high 10 first-half points. He knocked down two tough three-pointers, both of which were contested, off-balance attempts.
In the second half, Flagg showed exactly why he’s a man among boys in college basketball right now. The freshman scored 10 points in 10 second-half minutes on an efficient 4-6 shooting. His length, athleticism, power by the rim and ability to shoot were all on display. It was a gift for fans who wished the game was closer. Fellow freshman guard Kon Knueppel also added seven second-half points to help close out the game.
“Just the consistency of everybody stepping up,” said Duke head coach Jon Scheyer. “I could talk about each one of these guys that played tonight, even the guys at the end with what they did. They played the same way. That’s the standard that we’ve talked about. Just really proud of the effort.”
Final notes
Duke was straight-up dominant. It had seven players score in double figures, fueling an all-around offensive barrage. The Blue Devils’ three-point shooting and rebounding were two key factors that the Illini just could not keep up with. Illinois was outrebounded 44-30 in one of its worst efforts on the glass all season.
“Crazy to think we’ve been the number one rebounding team in the country and get smashed tonight,” Underwood said.
When the final buzzer sounded, a 43-point Duke win flashed all over the scoreboards. Illinois walked off the court looking like a shell of the team it was just a few short months ago. It ended the game shooting 2-26 from three.
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