MADISON, Wis. (Sporting Alert, Box Score) — Freshman guard Tyus Jones scored 22 points in leading No. 4 Duke to an impressive 80-70 victory over No. 2 Wisconsin at the Kohl Center on Wednesday night in the ACC–Big Ten Challenge.
Jones shot 7 for 11 from the floor and wend 2 for 3 from behind the arc, while grabbing six rebounds and four assists for the Blue Devils (8-0), which secured its first true road game of the season.
“We just tried to make it difficult for them and it worked for us,” Jones said after his season high scoring performance. “This was my first real road game in college so I tried to stay calm and follow the lead of Quinn [Cook].
“My teammates give me confidence on the court and without them I could have never done what I did out there tonight,” added Jones, who admits that as the game progressed he felt more confident about taking over the offense.
Duke shot 65.2 percent from the field and became the first road team to go over 60-percent from the field against the Badgers at the Kohl Center.
According to ESPN Stats, Duke’s field percent in Wednesday night’s game, is the third-highest ever by any team against an Associated Press top-5 team in the last 15 seasons. It is also the most by any team playing on the road.
Rasheed Sulaimon went 5 for 8 in shooting for 14 points off the bench and Jahlil Okafor and Quinn Cook each scored 13 points in the win for Duke, who outscored the home side 32-22 in the paint on their way to picking up their eighth straight victory of the season.
Traevon Jackson had a game high 25 points for Wisconsin, but his efforts wasn’t enough to prevent the Badgers from suffering their first defeat of the season.
Forward Frank Kaminsky contributed 17 points and nine rebounds for Wisconsin, which shot 40.7 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from three-pointers.
After Wisconsin trimmed Duke’s six-point lead to just two points with 10:32 remaining, the Blue Devils went on another late run and took a 69-60 lead on a jumper from Amile Jefferson with 2:52 left and that was enough to knock the stuffing out of the home side.
The Blue Devils will now take 12 days off before facing Elon on Dec. 15.
Wisconsin plays at Marquette on Saturday.
