By ADAM ZAGORIA
R.J. Barrett and Zion Williamson once again proved a potent 1-2 punch as Duke rolled a Canadian opponent.
The 6-foot-7 Barrett went for 35 points, 9 boards and 3 assists on 15-of-25 shooting and Williamson had 24 points, 8 rebounds and 2 steals as Duke rolled Toronto, 96-60, on Friday night.
The projected No. 1 pick in 2019, Barrett had gone for 34 in Wednesday’s win over Ryerson, while Williamson scored 29.
“It’s just being competitive,” Barrett said after the game, according to the Canadian Press. “I think I am really good. I think I belong here. So just competing, really.”
RIM ROCKER. @ZionW32 ???????????????? pic.twitter.com/tR8V2CGw7S
— Duke Basketball (@DukeMBB) August 17, 2018
Duke is playing without injured freshmen Cam Reddish and Tre Jones, while sophomore guard Alex O’Connell suffered a broken orbital bone near his right eye on Wednesday when he was elbowed.
“I think (R.J.) and Zion were placed in a position in these two games to shoot it a lot,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “When we get our full complement of players, they’ll still shoot the ball a lot but they won’t shoot it as much as they did in these two games. I think when R.J. takes his time, he’s an outstanding shooter. He’s a moving guy so he makes really good moves to the basket and gets fouled. He’ll hit his free throw better than he did these two days because he’s going to get fouled a lot. They needed to shoot like they did and the other guys need to play off and get offensive boards and they did a good job of that.”
Duke plays McGill on Sunday afternoon to wrap up its Canadian tour.
For more, read about the group chat that led to Duke’s historic No. 1 recruiting class.
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