NCAA News Wire
Duke 80, Wisconsin 70
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
MADISON, Wis. — Freshman guard Tyus Jones scored a team-high 22 points to pace the fourth-ranked Duke Blue Devils to a 80-70 win against the No. 2 Wisconsin Badgers in a Big Ten/ACC Challenge game.
The Blue Devils (8-0) shot a blistering 65 percent (30 of 46) from the field at the Kohl Center to hand the Badgers (7-1) their first loss of the season.
Center Jahill Okafor added nine of his 13 points in the second half after struggling early for the Blue Devils, who got double-digit scoring from four players. Duke shot 58 percent from 3-point range in the victory.
Senior guard Traevon Jackson scored a game-high 25 points on 6 of 11 shooting for Wisconsin, which shot 41 percent overall in the setback.
Jackson drained a pair of free throws to pull Wisconsin within three at 63-60 with 5:06 left, but the Badgers couldn’t stop hot-shooting Duke down the stretch.
Center Frank Kaminsky, who was often double-teamed in the low post, scored 17 points overall on 5-of-11 shooting for Wisconsin.
A sluggish start by Wisconsin and consistent shooting from Duke led the Blue Devils to a 35-32 halftime lead.
Jones scored eight first-half points, including back-to-back 3-pointers with less than two minutes left before the break.
Guard Quinn Cook came off the bench and added eight first-half points for the Blue Devils, whose top player, Okafor, was limited in the half with two fouls. Okafor, who averaged 22.5 points over the previous two games, scored four points prior to intermission.
Kaminsky and Jackson scored eight points each to pace Wisconsin in the opening half.
NOTES: Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski and Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan are two of six active coaches with 700 or more career wins. … The teams played for the third time, though it was the first meeting since a 73-69 Wisconsin victory on Dec. 2, 2009. … Wisconsin travels to Milwaukee to play Marquette on Saturday. … Duke returns home to play host to Elon College on Dec. 15.
