Duke basketball: Roommates enjoying chemistry in backcourt

Jeremy Roach and Jaylen Blakes look like one dangerous Duke basketball duo.

Duke basketball guard Jeremy Roach (Rob Kinnan-USA TODAY Sports)

A few patented Duke basketball runs, centering on defense, ensured a lopsided outcome in the team's 71-44 season-opening win over visiting Jacksonville on Monday night, tipping off Jon Scheyer's first campaign as a head coach on a positive note.

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And the bulk of those dominant stretches by the preseason No. 7 Blue Devils came with two roommates, junior captain Jeremy Roach and sophomore reserve Jaylen Blakes, running the show in the Duke basketball backcourt.

Duke didn't play a minute without at least one of its two returning scholarship players from last season's Final Four squad. That trend is likely to continue for the pair of point guards, who totaled 24 points against Jacksonville, shot a combined 6-for-10 from downtown, and appeared to gain even more of Scheyer's trust.

"I thought Jeremy Roach really set the tone for us," Scheyer told the media after the game. "That's what we need him to do all year long."

Moments later, Scheyer gave similar high praise to Roach's backup and part-time running mate.

"[Blakes] is a winner," Scheyer proclaimed. "He's a competitor — how he defended, his intensity, and just his unselfishness. It provided a huge spark for us...He has an edge about him that not many other people have."

Across the 15 minutes that Roach and Blakes were both in the game, the Blue Devils outscored the Dolphins 27-9. Doing the math, in the other 25 minutes when one of the two was on the bench, Jacksonville was much more competitive, to the tune of losing by a score of only 44-35 in that span.

The first stretch with Jeremy Roach and Jaylen Blakes on the floor started at the 13:12 mark in the first half as Duke held only a five-point advantage at 15-10 and needed a spark. By the time Roach subbed out four minutes later, the team had built a 23-13 edge, thanks partly to a boost in defensive intensity, Blakes' specialty.

"I call him the pit bull in the backcourt," Jeremy Roach said in the locker room after the game. "He just always brings that toughness, so I just love playing with J. Blakes. Just setting that tone, that defensive tone, when you see him guarding up like that, that makes you want to guard...He's a workhorse."

More than three minutes into the second half, the Blue Devils had not yet scored since the break and led 42-28. Enter Blakes. He and Roach were in the game together for the next six minutes as Duke cushioned its lead to 53-32.

In their final five-minute stretch together, from the 7:45 mark until 2:43 left to play in the game, Duke again increased its lead, this time from 56-36 to 64-38.

"We're roommates, so we have great chemistry with each other," Jaylen Blakes said. "We balance each other on and off the ball. Defensively, we create a lot of havoc."

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