Duke doesn’t have a superstar this season, but it does have Tre Jones

NEW YORK CITY — It’s time to forget everything you learned about Duke basketball over the last five years. The 2019-20 Blue Devils are still great, but this is no longer the team of bona fide superstars. There’s no Zion Williamson here, or Marvin Bagley, or Jayson Tatum. In fact, there might not even be a lottery pick on this roster.

Mike Krzyzewski told reporters after Duke’s 68-66 win over Kansas Tuesday night at the Champions Classic that he’s going to need to learn how to sub. While he’s working to find the right combinations, he will want to keep the ball in the hands of his sophomore point guard, Tre Jones.

Jones is the closest thing Coach K has to a star right now.

The difference between this year’s Blue Devils and last season’s group isn’t easy to spot with a quick look at the polls. Right now, Duke is ranked fourth in the AP Poll — exactly where it started last season. Last year’s team quickly ascended to No. 1 after throttling Kentucky to open the season and rode that win to a 32-6 record, ACC title, 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and trip to the Elite Eight.

The road back will have to be different this year. Williamson and RJ Barrett provided superhuman production. Cam Reddish had his moments, too. All are off to the NBA now, but Jones decided to come back to school. Duke’s success starts with him.

Only now, his job is a little tougher, as he has gone from a freshman to a leader who has to help his coach harness his teammates’ untapped talent.

“Even though he’s the point guard, he wasn’t necessarily the leader of the team,” Krzyzewski said of Jones’ role in 2018-19. “This year, it’s his team. He feels less pressure with more responsibility. Those are the type of people you like in your organization.”

It may have looked easy on Tuesday, but the months leading up to the season opener were anything but. While he could have gone pro after last year, following his brother Tyus from Durham to the NBA, Jones decided to come back for his sophomore season. He’s doing so after his second consecutive summer of recovering from hip surgery, which Krzyzewski says has slowed his development. This year, he didn’t seem to return to his old self until just a couple weeks ago. It’s paid off for him and his teammates.

“I told him just follow your instincts,” Krzyzewski said. “Everyone will react to you and you just go for it.”

Fans got to see it firsthand on college basketball’s opening night.

His best play in the season opener came with just under 12 minutes left and Duke trailing by two. As soon as Jones came up with the ball in the backcourt, Cassius Stanley took off toward the basket, trusting that his teammate would find him in the right spot. Jones then unleashed a bounce pass that spanned almost half the court and split two Kansas players. Stanley, who outran everyone on the play, finished with a game-tying dunk.

“I’ve never seen that,” Stanley said. “I ran my lane expecting that but when I caught it, I was surprised.”

As for Jones, it was just another play he knew he could make to help build his team up.

“I definitely thought that was getting through,” he said. “I knew that was going to be a big momentum play for us. I had to find him somehow.”

Jones made plays time and again on Tuesday. It never looked easy for Duke, and Kansas helped the Blue Devils out with a bevy of turnovers and misses from the free throw line and point-blank range. Duke won’t always get so lucky and Jones will have to steer his team through even tougher times.

He has the tools to do it. Even as a freshman, he never let bad games pile up, responding to every setback like just another challenge. He set the school’s single-season record for assist-to-turnover ratio (3.62) while averaging 9.5 points and 5.3 assists per game.

Jones played all but one minute and 10 seconds against Kansas and came up with 15 points, seven assists, two steals, and six boards.

Jones led Duke through an ugly game on both ends. The matchup between the No. 3 and No. 4 team in the country hardly looked that way most of the night, and the Blue Devils had plenty to do with that. Their defense forced 28 Jayhawk turnovers — 18 in the first half. Naturally, Jones was at the center of it.

“I thought the difference maker for us was Tre,” Krzyzewski said. “We have a lot of young guys and a lot of new guys, but we’ve really tried to play good defense in our first 30 practices. It paid off tonight. We played really good defense and it starts with that kid.”

This might be the norm going forward. The Blue Devils won’t force every team into absurd turnovers, but their games also won’t win many beauty contests. It doesn’t have the star power.

It does, however, have the pieces to contend for a national title. Stanley can make great plays when Duke is able to get out and run. Matthew Hurt can score from anywhere, especially from the three-point arc, and Vernon Carey is going to be a difference maker inside. Duke will need to get some help off the bench as well. Returners Javin DeLaurier, Jack White, and Alex O’Connell each played more than 13 minutes but shot a combined 5-for-17 from the field.

“The depth that we have this year is much different than what we have had in years past,” Jones said. “We can go much deeper into the bench and not drop off at all, and the more we go to the bench, the more guys bring.”

Jones will lead through it all, scoring when he can and putting his teammates in position to play to their strengths.

“We’re going to be ugly sometimes, but we’re going to grit it out and get dubs,” he said. “They’re not gonna lay down. We’re not gonna lay down. It’s gonna be a dog fight.”