Ex-Duke Basketball Guard Jaylen Blakes Holds Former Teammate Scoreless
Jaylen Blakes has boosted his production considerably from his three Duke basketball campaigns. However, the 21-year-old starting guard's Stanford Cardinal (10-5, 2-2 ACC) had struggled to the tune of five losses in its past eight games entering Wednesday night's home bout against the Virginia Tech Hokies (6-9, 1-3 ACC) and their former two-year Blue Devil, 21-year-old starting guard Jaden Schutt.
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Stanford prevailed, 70-59, in part due to Blakes' relentless attack on offense and lockdown defense versus Schutt.
Blakes totaled 17 points, two rebounds, six assists, and one steal in his 31 minutes on the floor, shooting 3-for-8 from the field, 1-for-5 from three, and 10-for-12 at the charity stripe. He's now averaging 14.8 points, 3.5 boards, 5.3 dimes, and 2.0 steals this season while shooting 45.3 percent from the field and 79.0 percent at the line.
As for Schutt, who redshirted last season in Durham while recovering from a knee injury after seeing limited action as a freshman, he went scoreless for the first time as a Hokie, dropping his season average to 8.2 points per game. He shot 0-for-2 from the field, with both attempts coming beyond the arc, while tallying just four rebounds and one assist in 34 minutes of action against Stanford.
Seven players transferred out of the Duke basketball program back in the spring. In addition to Jaylen Blakes and Jaden Schutt, Virginia reserve forward TJ Power and Clemson backup center Christian Reeves decided to remain in the ACC.
Schutt is the only one from that group who has already faced Jon Scheyer's third Duke basketball squad. He finished with only three points, shooting 1-for-6 from three, across his 23 minutes in Virginia Tech's 88-65 road loss to the No. 4-ranked Blue Devils (13-2, 5-0 ACC) in Cameron Indoor Stadium on New Year's Eve.
Duke welcomes Blakes back to Cameron on Feb. 15 when the Blue Devils host the Cardinal. The Blue Devils play at Clemson on Feb. 8 and at Virginia on Feb. 17.
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