Paolo Banchero scored 21 points and No. 9 Duke’s defense flustered Notre Dame in a 57-43 victory Monday night at South Bend, Ind.
Duke moved into a tie atop the Atlantic Coast Conference standings with Miami at the midway mark of the league schedule.
AJ Griffin added 13 points for Duke (18-3, 8-2 ACC). That meant the top two scorers for the Blue Devils were freshmen, while Notre Dame’s veterans couldn’t get untracked. Duke moved to 7-4 vs. Notre Dame in regular-season games since the Irish joined the ACC.
Paul Atkinson Jr. scored 14 points for Notre Dame (14-7, 7-3), which had a four-game winning streak snapped. The Fighting Irish made 3 of 18 from beyond the 3-point arc in losing a home game for the first time this season.
Duke shot only 3-for-19 on 3-point attempts, but Banchero was 10-for-22 from the field. He had one of the team’s 3-point baskets and also pulled in nine rebounds to share team-high honors with Griffin and backup post player Theo John in that category.
Duke held a 51-36 advantage in rebounds, though some of the numbers might not have suggested such a dominating result for the Blue Devils. They committed 14 turnovers and attempted only three foul shots, making two.
Trevor Keels returned to action for the first time in nearly two weeks for the Blue Devils, but he was used in a reserve role. He shot just 1-for-8 from the field and scored two points as he came back from a leg injury sustained during a loss at Florida State.
Notre Dame went through three first-half scoring droughts of nearly five minutes. That included no points in the last 4:50 before halftime.
Duke led 27-14 at the break and then built a 42-20 gap in the second half.
The contest was a makeup game from a scheduled Jan. 1 matchup that was postponed when Duke was dealing with COVID-19 protocol.
–Field Level Media
