Duke men’s basketball leaves Bellarmine hurting thanks to Matthew Hurt
Coming off a game where poor shooting led to a loss, No. 6 Duke got all the shot-making it needed from Matthew Hurt to post a win Friday night.
Hurt scored 24 points while making six 3-pointers, leading the Blue Devils to a 76-54 win over Division I newcomer Bellarmine at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Hurt hit 9-of-12 shots, including 6-of-8 3-pointers, to pace the Blue Devils (2-1). His 3-point shooting was notable as Duke only made 5 of 23 as a team in Tuesday night’s 75-69 loss to No. 8 Michigan State.
Freshman forward Jaemyn Brakefield added 12 points as he made all four of his 3-pointers.
The Blue Devils shot 51.8% as a team, including 13 of 26 on 3-pointers.
Bellarmine (0-1) shot 43.4 percent and turned the ball over 20 times.
And one
Freshman Mark Williams drew his first starting assignment for Duke and the 7-1 center made a big impact, especially on defense. Williams blocked four shots and grabbed seven rebounds. He scored five points on 2-of-3 shooting from the field while being credited with three assists.
Lane violation
After a spectacular college debut last Saturday, Jalen Johnson hasn’t looked like the preseason All-ACC honor he was awarded last month. For the second game in a row, Johnson picked up two early fouls and sat most of the first half. The 6-9 freshman didn’t score his first points against Bellarmine until 8:47 remained in the game when Duke lead by 21 points. After his 19-point, 19-rebound performance against Coppin State in the season opener, Johnson scored 11 points on 4-of-11 shooting against Michigan State on Tuesday night and finished with nine points against Bellarmine.
ICYMI
Bellarmine played Duke in its first game as a Division I program. The Knights were dominant at the Division II level, winning that division’s national championship in 2011. That earned Bellarmine a exhibition date at Duke later that year. So Friday night was not the Knights’ first game at Cameron. Bellarmine will compete in the A-Sun Conference this season.
Making sense of the numbers
1: Shots made by Duke sophomore forward Wendell Moore over Duke’s last two games. After going 0 of 9 against Michigan State, Moore was 1 of 7 against Bellarmine.
18: Duke turnovers against Bellarmine. The Blue Devils entered the game having averaged 17 turnovers over its first two games — 22 against Coppin State and 12 against Michigan State.
This story was originally published December 4, 2020 at 8:54 PM with the headline "Duke men’s basketball leaves Bellarmine hurting thanks to Matthew Hurt."