As I predicted yesterday Duke and Kentucky both win their games in the inaugural Champions Classic. Duke beat Michigan State 74-69 and Kentucky defeated Kansas 75-65. What did I think of the two games find out below as I give my thoughts from the games.
Michigan State Duke
- First off congrats to Coach K on becoming the all time wins leader in the history of college basketball. 903 is a lot of wins.
- Duke guard Andre Dawkins had a breakout game last night scoring 26 points. I think he is the best shooter in all of college basketball this year. He made 6 threes last night. Now he just has to improve his all around game and he will be one of the better players in the ACC.
- Highly touted freshman Austin Rivers really struggled last night. He was only 1 of 7 from the floor and had 4 fouls which caused his minute to go down. To me Rivers still has a long way to go, and I don’t like the way he carriers himself he seems to whine and complain a lot when stuff doesn’t go his way.
- Seth Curry and Ryan Kelly will be Duke’s most consistent players all year. Besides the 2o points Curry also had 4 assists and 7 rebounds. Kelly added 14 points and two threes made
- You cannot count on the Plumlee brothers. Mason and Miles played a combined 46 minutes and scored only 8 points. They only attempted 4 field goal attempts. Duke inability to score in the low post will cost them down the road.
- Duke was the more aggressive team by far last night. They attempted 41 free throws to 18 for Michigan State.
- Michigan State’s star Draymond Green really struggled. He only shot 4 of 15 from the floor and committed 5 turnovers. He tries to do too much sometimes.
- Keith Appling and Brandon Wood both played bad against North Carolina but in this one there were Michigan State two best players. Appling had 22 points on 8 of 10 shooting from the floor, while Wood had 15 points.
- Two-freshman continued to be bright spots for MSU. Branden Dawson and Travis Trice both played well.
- Michigan State needs to take care of the ball better they had 21 turnovers to only 8 assists. They lack a true point guard.
Kentucky Kansas
- A good sign for Kentucky was balance scoring in this game all 5 starters scored in double figures. The bad news they basically only played a 6-man rotation and only got 5 points from their bench.
- Some people considered Austin Rivers the best freshman in the country, but I always thought it was Anthony Davis. In this game he was a monster blocking 7 shots, 6 rebounds, and 14 points on 6 of 8 shooting from the floor.
- The only other bad news for Kentucky in this one was they committed to many turnovers (19). Freshman point guard Marquis Teague had 6.
- Doron Lamb continued to show why he is one of the best shooters in the country knocking down 3 threes.
- I really liked Michael Kidd Gilchrist’s game he already has a NBA type body. Besides scoring 12 points he added 9 rebounds and 4 assists.
- Terrence Jones was he usual self in this one doing a little bit of everything. He had 15 points and 7 rebounds
- Kansas really has two players that can score in Thomas Robinson and Tyshawn Taylor. Both struggled Robinson shot 5 for 12 from the floor while Taylor shot 3 of 13. If they two players don’t shot better it could be a long year for Kansas.
- Taylor did however find a way to get to the free throw line. Making 15 out of 17 free throws. He was aggressive. Robinson did add 12 rebounds
- Kansas will have a hard time finding a third scorer; I don’t see anyone of their roster that can score double figures consistently.
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