Date 11/14 || Time 7:00 || Venue Basketball Paradise || Video ACC Network
Duke welcomes Indiana State to Cameron Friday evening.
The Sycamores are of course most famously associated with one of the great legends of the game in Larry Bird, who led ISU to an undefeated season in 1979 before losing to Magic Johnson and Michigan State in the NCAA Finals.
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More recently, Robbie Avila, aka Cream Abdul-Jabbar, had a brilliant couple of years in Terre Haute before transferring to St. Louis after his coach, Josh Schertz, took the Billikens job.
He was succeeded by Matthew Graves, who was a Brad Stevens assistant in 2010 and was on the bench during the Duke-Butler national championship.
Most unfortunately, Graves underwent triple bypass surgery in October. Assistant Mark Slessinger is the interim coach.
Indiana State is 2-1, with a 92-76 loss at Charlotte, and wins over Illinois Tech (104-73) and SIU Edwardsville (64-55).
Slessinger has a seven man rotation: Xavier Hall (6-0 senior), Ian Scott (6-7 senior), Sterling Young (6-1 senior), Camp Wagner (6-6 junior), Derek Vorst (6-10 junior), Markus Harding (6-10 grad student), Bruno Alocen (6-6 sophomore) and Enel St. Bernard (6-6 junior).
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Hall averages an impressive 7.3 assists. Scott is racking up a double-double with 14.3 points and 10 boards. Young gets 13 ppg. Wagner gets 9.3 ppg and 3.3 boards. The big men Vorst and Harding combine for 19.6 ppg and 7 rpg.
Overall, the Sycamores average 81.3 ppg but have a significant weakness with just 25.6% on three point attempts. Their offense relies more on interior scoring and penetration.
As for Duke, we’ve seen a pretty good idea of where this team is heading. Cameron Boozer is an elite talent. He’s supported inside by Pat Ngongba, an emerging big man, and Maliq Brown, a brilliant defender who is expanding the rest of his game.
Isaiah Evans, Caleb Foster and Dame Sarr man the perimeter. Evans is a brilliant shooter who is becoming a well-rounded player. Foster has emerged as a very solid point guard who defends very, very well, and Sarr is a speedy 6-8 player who is only beginning to show his potential.
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The rest of the team is also very promising: Cayden Boozer is showing real growth at point guard. Darren Harris has emerged as a guy who appears intent on maximizing his gifts through hustle and hard work – a coach’s dream, in other words. And Nik Khamenia is a hard-ass trapped inside a teenager’s body.
It’ll be a lot for Indiana State to overcome, but no player worth his salt accepts someone else’s expectations. Expect them to play hard and, win or lose, leave Cameron honorably.
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