The key three: Duke basketball vs. Syracuse

No. 17 Duke travels to the Carrier Dome to take on undefeated No. 2 Syracuse Saturday evening in their first-ever meeting as ACC rivals. It's just the third head-to-head meeting between legends Mike Krzyzewski and Jim Boeheim, the only two coaches in men's college basketball history with 900 wins at one school. Facing Syracuse means facing the famous Orange 2-3 zone. Today's keys to the games will all revolve around figuring out a way to solve that long, athletic defense:

Penetrate the Gaps

The best way to beat a zone is to move the ball quickly, get the ball inside to the high post for kick-outs, and drive the gaps in the zone that appear after a few ball rotations. The Blue Devils struggled against the zone early in the season but has more success recently when teams have zoned them, which hasn't been often. The penetration of Quinn Cook and Rasheed Sulaimon and the high post passing of Amile Jefferson will be crucial for creating open looks for teammates.

Shoot Over the Top

A strength of a zone defense is that it takes away a lot of a team's interior game, forcing the offense into long, contested jumpers. Duke went 13-for-25 from behind the 3-point line at Pittsburgh on Monday, so this could potentially play right into the Blue Devils' hands. Andre Dawkins will be a key factor in today's game—if he can replicate his hot shooting from Monday night, the zone will have to extend out to guard him, which will create more openings for other teammates.

Crash the Offensive Boards

Rebounding out of a zone defense is much more challenging than rebounding out of a man-to-man scheme, because each person doesn't have a set opposing player to box out. If Jefferson, Marshall Plumlee and Jabari Parker make a concerted effort to get on the glass early and often like they did against Florida State, they'll create second-chance opportunities for Duke. The Orange slow down the pace because of the stingy zone, so the more opportunities you can get against Syracuse's defense, the better.