The Duke Blue Devils, who continue to press on despite key injuries to nearly their entire front court, notched an impressive 75-65 win over No. 21 Rhode Island on Sunday, riding the hot hand of Luke Kennard and big man Amile Jefferson, who played 40 and 36 minutes, respectively.
The always consistent Grayson Allen, who was also injured Saturday (toe and foot), played 39 minutes despite Mike Krzyzewski saying before the game that Allen was playing at about 50 percent, and his 10 points put him into Duke's 1,000-point club for his career.
Here are a few things to consider about Allen's accomplishment:
The 1,000 points isn't a big deal
Allen is the 66th Blue Devil to eclipse 1,000 career points, so while it has that big-number ring, it's not exactly a major milestone. Allen is only five games into his junior season, and being that he's expected to leave after this season for the NBA, he's not going to get anywhere near the Top 10 Blue Devil scorers, who are as follows:
1. J.J. Redick: 2,769
2. Johnny Dawkins: 2,556
3. Christian Laettner: 2,460
4. Kyle Singler: 2,392
5. Mike Gminski: 2,323
6. Danny Ferry: 2,155
7. Mark Alaire: 2,136
8. Gene Banks: 2,079
t8. Jason Williams: 2,079
10. Jon Scheyer: 2,077
Boozer in his sights
OK, so Allen might not make the Top 10, or even Top 20, but if he continues at his 16.3 points per game average through the rest of the season, he would be on pace to threaten the 1,500-point mark, which would put him right on the cusp of the No. 25 spot that is currently held by Carlos Boozer's 1,506 career points.
This would be a legit mark for Allen, and there's every reason to think he can get there, even with the eventual return of Duke's talented freshman trio of Harry Giles, Marques Bolden and Jayson Tatum -- which will, presumably, cut into Allen's shots some. Allen has proven to be a go-to scorer, and in fact, the reverse argument could be made that with the defense not able to focus so much on him once these guys get on the floor, he could find some easier points more often.
Let's just speculate here: If Allen is named National Player of the Year, which he has a legit chance to do, and if Duke wins the national title, which it also, obviously, has a legit chance to do, and if he passes Boozer and moves into the top 25 all-time Blue Devil scorers, would you think of Allen as an all-time great Blue Devil?
I would. He would have two national titles, the first of which thrust him into the national spotlight as he pretty much came out of nowhere in that tournament to be maybe Duke's best player on college basketball's biggest stage, he would be a top-25 all-time scorer, and he would have a Player of the Year award on his mantle.
Doesn't make him Christian Laettner, but it would probably put him above a lot of names that would have more career points than him -- like Jon Scheyer and Kyle Singler, for example.