Luol Deng led Blair Academy to a hard fought victory over Laurenberg in their first game at Glaxo's Annual Tournament. Several Duke fan's took in
tonight's action, as talented high schoolers converged at N.C. State's famed Reynolds Coliseum for a weekend of
basketball.
Laurenburg gave talented Blair Academy all they wanted in the first three quarters, but Luol Deng, the
nation's consensus second rated recruit, and Illinois bound Charlie Villaneuva (11 points) and Alvarez (11 points) proved too much as the game wore on.
Deng showed a variety of moves and natural talent and appears to have all the tools to succeed in the Duke system . His long arms make him a presence near the basket and he has a really nice soft touch from the outside. While he showed a rare poor shot selection with a couple of NBA threes early, he settled into the game nicely against good competition and finished with a game high 28 points on 10 of 21 shooting from the field, 1 of 3 from three. He showed a superb touch from the charity stripe as well, going 7 for 8.
Luol has great hands, plays good on ball defense and doesn't over-commit when out of position. He could be seen talking his teammates up, which showed his leadership ability, and has a good presence of mind on the court. That presence of mind was important at one critical point in the game, when a teammate took his eye off the ball on a pass, but Luol sprinted to get the ball just before it got past half court saving it before dishing a pass down low to a teammate to draw a foul.
He also grabbed 11 boards and while still a bit slender in stature, showed aggressiveness
and strength. Again, his early shot selection was suspect, but he showed the all around game that has many Blue Devil faithful excited.
Luol simply has it all...good ball handling skills, drives to the hole with ease,
quickness, good defense and rebounding and a sweet touch and shot that will be hard to block. He is supposedly, according to his Coach; developing a hook shot, but I failed to see it effectively tonight.
More notes of interest- Several Duke Basketball players attended the game tonight. Shavlik Randolph, JJ Redick, Shelden Williams, Lee Melchionni, and Sean Dockery took in the action.
The tournament continues through the weekend with General Admission being eight dollars daily for all the action. If you are in the Triangle, Deng and Nelson are worth a look.
Deng had a tough spill, falling flat on his back with a thud at the 4:22 mark of the fourth quarter, but after a few sighs, bounced up and continued to play.
There should be a few pictures shortly. It is a pleasure for me to share this information with fellow Devils fans and the Duke Basketball Report. Go Devils!