No. 1 Duke shakes off pesky Portland State
PORTLAND, Ore. — Marvin Bagley III said Duke’s Blue Devils knew they had to wake up for the second half against Portland State.
And eventually, they did. Trevon Duval scored 22 points and No. 1 Duke pulled away for a 99-81 victory over the surprisingly tenacious Vikings on Thursday to open the Phil Knight Invitational.
Bagley added 18 points and Grayson Allen had 14 points and nine assists. The Blue Devils (6-0) today will face Texas, which defeated Butler 61-48.
Duke trailed by as many as eight points but took control midway through the second half when Wendell Carter Jr.’s dunk put the Blue Devils in front 67-62. They would go on to lead by 21.
“The first half we obviously weren’t playing like we normally do. We weren’t doing the things that we do well. We weren’t going to our strengths. We kind of came out sluggish,” Bagley said. “But going into the second half it was just ‘You have to wake up.’ They (the coaches) mentioned to us that these are the type of games that
are going to be like that if you don’t come out ready to play.
It was coach Mike Krzyzewski’s 200th victory as coach of a No. 1-ranked team. He’s 200-29 when the Blue Devils sit atop the poll.
Deontae North led the Vikings (4-1) with 24 points, including 20 in the first half, but fouled out with 8:39 left in the game.
It was the first time in program history that the Vikings had faced a top-ranked team. Portland State’s last win over a ranked opponent was an 86-82 victory over then-No. 25 Portland in December 2009.
“I thought they just knocked us back the whole first half,” Krzyzewski said. “We were in a reactionary mode the first 20 minutes.”
The tournament involves 16 teams playing in two brackets on Thursday, today and Sunday, with a break on Saturday. The field also includes No. 4 Michigan State, No. 7 Florida and defending national champion North Carolina.
Dubbed the PK80, the tournament celebrates Nike co-founder Phil Knight’s 80th birthday.
Duke and Portland State were in the Motion Bracket, playing Thursday at the Memorial Coliseum. Teams in the Victory Bracket played at the adjacent Moda Center.
Knight was sitting courtside for Duke’s game.
The five-time NCAA champion Blue Devils were coming off a 92-63 victory over Furman on Monday night, led by Bagley with 24 points.