With suspension behind him, Grayson Allen re-emerges in point guard role
Though naysayers are still busy complaining about how light Duke guard Grayson Allen's one-game suspension was, the preseason National Player of the Year has been busy making himself highly effective in a much different way than he did last year when he was the Blue Devils' leading scorer at 21.6 points a game.
It's been two games since Allen returned from his suspension for a tripping incident against Elon — which cost the Blue Devils in a Dec. 31 road loss to Virginia Tech while he was out — and Saturday marked the first game without coach Mike Krzyzewski, who had lower back surgery on Friday and is out for about four weeks.
In those two games — both victories — Allen seems to be transitioning into a key role for Duke's still-coming-together offense. In his first game back against Georgia Tech, Allen attempted only five field goals and finished with 15 points and seven assists.
Perhaps more telling was his performance Saturday — a 93-82 win against Boston College — in which he had a quiet 12 points and career-high 11 assists. Granted, those assists were accompanied by five turnovers, but in much of the game Allen brought the ball up the floor and ran the point.
It's not like that was ever out of his range of ability, but to do it as a full-time job? That didn't seem possible given his role as the team's go-to scorer last season. Yet with a talented freshman class that continues to blossom, and the offensive skills of Luke Kennard (21.0 ppg), there's room for Allen to slide into a more unselfish role.
On Saturday, six players reached double figures with Allen as the main facilitator. The point guard role also can't hurt his professional aspirations: NBA scouts get to see his ballhandling and decision-making at a position he'd be asked to play at the next level.
Remember, current assistant coach Jon Scheyer (he was the guy calming Allen down during his post-trip tantrum in the Elon game) made a similar transition in 2010, when Duke went on to win the national championship. As a longtime off-the-ball marksmen, Scheyer thrived coming off screens and playing shooting guard. But his transition to PG as a senior allowed him to score in different ways, all while giving Krzyzewski a heady floor general.
Scheyer and Allen are totally different players, Scheyer being more heady and Allen's athleticism a core part of his game. That said, spurts of the past two games showed a code that the preseason title favorite has been trying crack all season with a winning offensive chemistry. It might be a work in progress, and perhaps Allen takes on more scoring later in the season. But at the very least, that one game suspension seemed to help Allen find more of a comfort zone in being effective in a new way.
Jefferson's injury status unclear
The Blue Devils started the game with their healthiest roster of the season. And then forward Amile Jefferson left in the first half with what appeared to be a right foot or ankle injury. He returned to the bench, still in uniform, midway through the second half but did not play again. The fifth-year senior missed the final three months of last season with a broken right foot. Jefferson is averaging 13.6 points and 10.8 boards this season.
"He hurt his foot. We don’t know the extent of it yet," associate head coach Jeff Capel said after the game, adding that Jefferson will undergo tests in the coming days. "We’ll hopefully find out a little bit later."
Duke seemed to have weathered the storm when it came to injuries. Jayson Tatum, Marques Bolden and and Harry Giles all missed time at the beginning of the year due to injuries, while Allen battled a toe problem for the first six weeks.
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