Duke got the guard scoring that CBR wondered about before its Tennessee exhibition. Freshman Deron Rippey Jr. scored 21 points, and John Blackwell added 18 in a 103-64 win over the No. 8 Volunteers on Tuesday. The No. 2 Blue Devils had six players in double figures. Their work near the basket made that scoring spread more useful than a list of individual totals suggests.
Duke scored 46 points in the paint to Tennessee's 16 and won the rebound count 44-29, according to its official game report. Patrick Ngongba II scored 13 and led Duke with seven rebounds. Cayden Boozer had six assists. The guards' scoring was part of a much wider advantage around the basket, an answer the pregame guard question could not anticipate.
That balance deserves credit, with an important limit. Tennessee's account says guard Terrence Hill Jr. left with an ankle injury during Duke's opening surge. The Volunteers had four players unavailable for the final 35-plus minutes and five out for the last 17-plus. Duke had already built an early lead, but the final margin came against a depleted opponent. Tennessee guard Dai Dai Ames scored 19, and the Vols shot 20 of 59 from the field.
For Duke, the useful development is how many ways it reached that score. Blackwell made four of six threes while Rippey got to 21 points on nine of 12 shooting. The paint advantage and rebounding gap gave those perimeter performances a wider base. The box score records the production, though it cannot tell us which combinations will hold up against a healthy opponent for a full game.
Duke visits No. 17 Kansas on October 25 for its final preseason game. That exhibition should offer another look at whether the Blue Devils can keep their guards productive while sustaining the inside work that separated them from Tennessee. Neither result counts toward the regular-season record.
