Duke basketball No. 2 rolls. Three takeaways Blue Devils win Dartmouth

Duke wins against Dartmouth despite injury, with 92-54 victory. The team prepares for a game against No. 12 Arizona.

Duke's men's basketball team started the season with a big win, defeating Dartmouth 92-54 at Cameron Indoor Stadium, even though one of their four returning starters was not available.

Mark Mitchell, a 6-9 sophomore forward who started 35 games last season, was not in uniform due to a lower-body injury.

Despite Mitchell's absence, the Blue Devils (1-0) had no trouble against Dartmouth (0-1), but they will need him when they play No. 12 Arizona on Friday night at Cameron.

In the game against Dartmouth, a preseason All-American forward scored 25 points on 10 of 12 shooting to lead the Blue Devils. A senior added 14 points with three assists.

Duke won its 17th consecutive home game, remaining unbeaten at Cameron with Jon Scheyer, in his second season as head coach.

With Mitchell unavailable, Duke used a larger lineup, with 6-10 graduate student center Ryan Young getting the start along with the 7-foot Filipowski down low. They were joined by senior guard Jeremy Roach, sophomore guard Tyrese Proctor, and freshman guard.

Christian Reeves, a 7-1 sophomore who only appeared in 13 games last season, was one of the first two players off the bench as he moved up in the interior rotation. Reeves played 4:23 of the first half as Duke built a 42-21 lead.

Young played 20 minutes, scoring two points with seven rebounds. Reeves wound up playing 12 minutes. He scored two points with three rebounds.

Duke's three starting guards, Proctor, Roach, and Proctor, all picked up two fouls in the first half. That caused Scheyer to dip into his backcourt depth early.

Junior Jaylen Blakes and freshman Caleb Foster both saw plenty of first-half playing time as Scheyer used the two of them to spell the foul-plagued starters. The 6-5 Foster played 14 minutes, 52 seconds of the first half while the 6-2 Blakes played 8:09.

McCain quickly picked up his third and fourth fouls over the first four minutes of the second half before eventually fouling out with 6:10 to play. As a result, he played just 15 minutes in his collegiate debut, finishing with eight points.

Foster had a stronger debut than McCain, scoring 15 points in his 29 minutes of play. He did so without committing a turnover.

Blakes played effectively, showing once again the steadiness that earned him two starting assignments among his 32 games played last season. Against Dartmouth, Blakes finished with 10 points on 3-of-3 shooting in 20 minutes of play.

The Blue Devils had the overwhelming physical advantage on Monday night, obviously. They used it to dominate on the defensive end, an area where Scheyer insists they excel.

Dartmouth shot 33.9%, making only 4 of 18 (22.2%) of its 3-pointers. The Big Green turned the ball over 13 times, a number Scheyer would surely like to see larger. But Duke, for the most part, made it difficult for Dartmouth to get anything going in its half-court offense.