Bagley scores 24 again in Duke win

Marvin Bagley continued his domination of mid-majors with another 24-point performance against Furman on Monday night in a winning Duke basketball effort.

Sometimes it takes freshmen a few games to catch up to increase in difficulty of the college level. Other times, that freshman is Marvin Bagley III.

Bagley scored 24 points against the Furman Paladins on Monday night. It was the third time in five games he hit that mark. The freshman phenom scored 19 points in another game. His only “bad” game was a four-point performance against then No. 2 Michigan State. This would point to Bagley being stymied by his only Power 5 competition. However, he only played 10 minutes after getting poked in the eye.

No. 1 Duke  (5-0) cruised to a 92-63 win over Furman (2-2). The lead changed hands six times, but that was all in the first nine minutes of the game. The Blue Devils tied and took a 17-16 lead on free throws by Wendell Carter Jr. and never ceded the lead to the Paladins again. Duke shot 61 percent for the game and outscored Furman 64-28 in the paint. They also had 17 fast break points and held Furman without one.

This Duke team looks a lot like their 2014-2015 championship team. If Bagley is the new Jahlil Okafor, freshman Trevon Duval is the new Tyus Jones. Guard play is especially important in March and it looks like Coach K has a good one. Duval was second in the game with a career-high 18 points on 9-of-12 shooting. He also had four assists and one turnover. Duval has a 38-to-7 assist-to-turnover ratio so far this season.

What’s Next

Duke basketball next heads west to play in the Phil Knight Invitational, or PK80, in Portland. The Blue Devils are part of the 16-team field that is divided into two separate brackets. They are in the opposite bracket from their rival No. 9 North Carolina and their early-season foe, No. 4 Michigan State. Duke is in the Motion Bracket with Portland State, Butler, Texas, No. 7 Florida, Stanford, Ohio State, and No. 17 Gonzaga.

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Tipoff of their first game against Portland State is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. ET on Thanksgiving and will be broadcast on ESPN.