Duke Bounce Back With Win Over the Citadel

JMU put the blowout loss to Kent State behind them and cruised to 67-49 win over the Citadel tonight. The Dukes were aided by the return of Devon Moore, who played his first game of the season after being declared academically ineligible for the first semester. The Dukes were also aided by the fact that the Citadel Bulldogs are not very good at playing basketball. A win is a win though and it was great to see the Dukes put the Kent State debacle behind them. Here are 3 quick thoughts on the win.

Guess Who’s Back

The story of the night was clearly the return of junior point guard Devon Moore. Everyone expected this to be Devon’s team this year, so it was great to finally get him out on the floor. He came off the bench, but played a team high 33 minutes, largely due to the fact that Humpty Hitchens got into foul trouble. In those 33 minutes he had the sort of all around game that makes him so valuable to JMU. He finished with 8 points on 4 of 7 shooting, 4 assists, 3 boards, and 2 steals. It could take a few games for him to get into full season mode, but this team will definitely be better with Moore running the show.

Balanced Attack

The Dukes worked their way to a 4-3 record without Devon Moore largely due to the outstanding play of Humpty Hitchens and AJ Davis. The duo were carrying over 50% of the scoring load for JMU heading into this game. Tonight JMU had a much more balanced attack with 8 players scoring. Julius Wells and Humpty lead the way with 12 each. The Dukes assisted on 17 of their 27 field goals.  It’s tough to read too much into one game, especially one against an overmatched opponent. However, I think this is more in line with what we’ll see the rest of the way. Yes, we’re going to see big scoring nights from Humpty, AJ, and probably even a couple from Julius Wells. With Moore back running the point though, we can look forward to a more dynamic offense with more players contributing on offense.

Meet Us at the GW Game

I really don’t have much else to say about tonight’s game, so I figured I’d throw in another plug for DC metro area Dukes to join us at this Thursday’s game at George Washington. The Duke Club has organized a pre-game happy hour at Tonic. There will be $4 drink specials and plenty of Dukes fans in attendance. Tickets are only $6 and they can be purchased online here. We’ll be posted up at the bar at Tonic with our Old Guys Leave shirts on. Come on over and introduce yourself and maybe we’ll buy you a drink. Maybe.

Finally, JMU announced that Trevon Flores has left the team and returned home to be with his family. Trevon’s mother passed away last summer and he apparently decided that he needs to get back to be with his family. That’s a tough situation and we wish Trevon and his family well.