The key three: Duke basketball vs. Temple

Coming off a solid win against Michigan State, Duke heads to Brooklyn, N.Y., for a match up against Temple in the semifinals of the Coaches v. Cancer Classic at the Barclays Center. Tipoff is at 9:30 p.m. Friday. Three things that Duke will need to do to avoid the upset:

Hit the glass

The sample size is small for the season so far, but, at times, Temple has had issues scoring. However, the Owls make up for a lack of scoring by boxing out and collecting rebounds. Three games into the season, the Blue Devils have struggled rebounding the basketball.

Duke was outrebounded by the smaller Michigan State Spartans 35-25 and gave up a whopping 13 offensive rebounds resulting in 11 second-chance points for Michigan State Tuesday. With the Owls' scoring issues, the Blue Devils, particularly interior players Jahlil Okafor and Amile Jefferson, will need to make sure they do not allow Temple to have any second chances. Duke's inability to close out possessions with rebounds allowed the Spartans to hang around and nearly make a big run late in the game.

Use the depth of the bench

Through their first two games of the season, the Owls have used a rotation of just eight players. In their 82-75 win over Louisiana Tech, junior guard Quenton DeCosey played all 40 minutes of the contest. Duke, on the other hand, has been using its deep bench consistently throughout the beginning of its season. By continuing to rotate players in and out of the game, the Blue Devils can have fresh legs late in the game while the Temple players continue to push through the fatigue which could play a big role in final minutes, especially on the boards.

Avoid unnecessary triples

Currently, Duke is shooting 47.8 percent from 3-point range—an incredibly high number and probably one that cannot be sustained. Temple is holding opposing teams to 24.5 percent from beyond the arc and likes to trap opposing teams into taking more three-point shots by forcing the ball out of the interior.