After dropping an ACC freshman record 42 points in victory Saturday over Notre Dame 86-78, The Blue Devils will look to continue its surgence of starting conference play 7-0. That will be without arguably the leagues best defender Maliq Brown who suffered a knee sprain Saturday versus the Irish. Head Coach Jon Scheyer stated Monday during the weekly ACC Coaches call Maliq is expected to miss several weeks and possibly longer, hinting that there may have been an issue prior to the injury on Saturday.
Without Brown, the Blue Devils will implement its reserves (Pat Ngongba) into vital minutes, more importantly, establishing it's pick and roll defense, something Miami head coach Bill Courtney reiterated Monday. Teams ability to put Duke into the pick and roll and create a mismatch off the dribble is something to monitor going forward. Versatilty and abilty to guard 1-5 for Maliq is a understatement of what he truly means as the defensive dog for Coach Scheyer.
Protecting Home Court
On the season Duke is 10-0 at home, looking to improve to a 7-0 mark in conference play with a 1 game lead over Clemson.
According to KenPom, the Hurricanes rank at the bottom of Power Four Conferences in defensive efficiency ranking 308. Moreover, the Blue Devils rank 4th in the conference scoring 80.4 ppg (via ESPN); Needless to say, the Blue Devils could have their eyes on the century mark in Cameron tonight.
Capture the Flagg
Over the Last four games Lottery Pick Cooper Flagg is averaging 27 points on 66 percent shooting from the field. During the same span Duke average win margin has been 22 points. This is revealing Duke is putting teams away early and maintaing its dominance from both eds of the floor led by freshman Cooper Flagg. Keep an eye out for Cooper to potentially tally a triple double tonight at Cameron.
How to to Watch
9:00 PM
ESPN
Cameron Indoor Stadium
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