After its defeat of Temple in the semifinals, Duke will play Stanford in New York at the Barclays Center in the final of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic Saturday at 9:30 p.m. The matchup will mark the first time that Stanford head coach Johnny Dawkins will face off against his alma mater. Three things that the Blue Devils will need to do to finish the tournament strong:
Play strong perimeter defense and close out to shooters
In its semifinal match up against UNLV, Stanford shot an astounding 70.0 percent from beyond the arc and senior guard Chasson Randle—a career 39.4 percent three-point shooter—played a large role in making that happen. The Rock Island, Ill. native exclusively attempted 3-point shots on the night, going 6-of-10.
Aside from this game, the Cardinal has not been a proficient long-range shooting team this season—Stanford averaged just 23.8 percent from deep through its first two games—but Dawkins’ teams in the past have been efficient from the 3-point line and Friday night’s game against the Rebels showed just that. So far, Duke has performed well in defending against the long ball, holding opponents to just 15.5 percent from beyond the arc. This will need to continue on Saturday against Randle and company.
Avoid fouling
In its first game against Wofford, the Cardinal attempted 28 free throws. In its second game, against South Dakota, Stanford could not find a rhythm shooting the ball, but was kept in the game because its players stood at the stripe an incredible 46 times and made 82.6 percent of those attempts. In the 89-60 rout of UNLV, it didn’t matter that Stanford only attempted 19 free throws because of its proficiency on the floor.
But in games where the opposing defense holds it down, the Cardinal can hang around by getting to the line. Clearly the Blue Devils will want to try and keep from giving the Cardinal these uncontested shots and so far they have done a good job of this, highlighted by the game against Michigan State when Spartan players only took 10 free throws. Duke will have to force Stanford to earn its points Saturday night and keeping the Cardinal off the line will be the easiest way to make that happen.
Keep the offense hot
The Blue Devils currently possess a top-five scoring offense and are averaging 94.2 points per game on the season. Stanford allows 64 points per game and is ranked outside the nation’s top 150 teams in scoring defense. Center Jahlil Okafor had a “down” day on Friday against Temple but has been one of the most effective interior scorers in the country to start the season.
The freshman is shooting 64.0 percent from the floor through the first four games of his career and his two classmates Tyus Jones and Justise Winslow are not far behind, averaging 10.8 and 15.8 points per game, respectively. If Stanford is able to stay as hot as it was against the Rebels, sometimes the best defense is a good offense.
The Cardinal pulled off a shocking upset against Kansas en route to a shocking Sweet 16 run by keeping the Jayhawks without field goals for long stretches and for Duke to avoid the upset, it will have to keep finding ways to put points on the board.
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