No. 7 Duke rolls past struggling Panthers
PITTSBURGH — Marvin Bagley III scored 16 points and grabbed 15 rebounds and No. 7 Duke had little trouble bouncing back from a loss to North Carolina State by drilling overmatched Pittsburgh 87-52 on Wednesday night.
Bagley also blocked a shot while recording his 13th double-double of the season, one shy of the Duke freshman record shared by Jabari Parker and Gene Banks.
The Blue Devils (14-2, 2-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) never trailed and needed less than 17 minutes to build a 30-point lead. Trevon Duval and Gary Trent Jr. scored 14 apiece and Grayson Allen added 11 points, four rebounds and four assists for Duke.
Four days removed from a 96-85 loss to the Wolfpack that left head coach Mike Krzyzewski fuming about his team’s “frantic” play, the Blue Devils responded by shutting down the freshmen-laden Panthers.
Duke limited Pitt (8-9, 0-4) to 13 points in the first 17 minutes and just 24 in the opening half, the second-fewest the Blue Devils have given up in a half this season.
Jared Wilson-Frame led the Panthers with 17 points but Pitt shot just 33 percent (17 for 51) and committed 15 turnovers in all, 10 coming during a first half in which the Panthers were overwhelmed at just about every turn.
The Blue Devils made their first four shots and by the time Pitt’s Shamiel Stevenson hit a layup 4:05 in, the Panthers were already down eight. Bagley then responded with a dunk and hook shot and the competitive portion of the game was effectively over.