After a shaky start coming out of its last break, the Blue Devils will look to lose the rust as they exit an 11-day reprieve and hit the court Monday.
Duke will play its next-to-last nonconference game before ACC play begins as the Blue Devils take on Toledo at 7 p.m. at Cameron Indoor Stadium. After a couple of less-than-perfect performances against Elon and Connecticut following a long lay-off for final exams, Duke will try to regain its sharpness as it moves toward conference action.
"Everyone around this time has had some roughness in the season, through exams and long breaks from games," assistant coach Nate James said. "It's about getting back to playing the level of basketball we were before exams."
The Rockets (7-4) have managed to play quality basketball throughout the holidays and will bring plenty of confidence to Durham Monday night. After dropping a Nov. 29 contest to Oakland, Toledo has reeled off five straight wins thanks in large part to the team's balance.
All five Toledo starters average at least 9.7 points per contest, with three of the five putting up 12.6 points each contest. Guard Julius Brown leads the way for the Rockets, as he averages 15.9 points and 4.9 assists per game and is Toledo's go-to offensive threat.
"The first thing we try to get across to our guys is how talented they are. They're not a team you can just coast your way into," James said. "They have basically all five of their starters in double-digits and they can really, really score the ball and are hungry."
With the array of scorers on the Toledo sideline, Duke will continue its focus on defense—the Blue Devils (10-0) held both Elon and Connecticut to less than 70 points. Duke's defense holds teams to 60.2 points per game but will have its hands full Monday.
The Rockets put up 77.5 points per game, good for 30th in the nation, and will have the Blue Devils' full attention.
"They attack in half-court, they attack in transition," James said. "Whenever you face an opponent that can score with any number of players going off, you really have to play the right way and focus on defending."
Although the defense has been solid for the Blue Devils, turnovers have been a weak spot for Duke in its past two games. The team averages just 11.1 giveaways per game on the season, but the Blue Devils coughed up the ball 17 times against the Phoenix and then committed a season-high 19 turnovers against the Huskies.
Duke will not have much time to get back on track, as Toledo and Wofford—the Blue Devils' New Year's Eve opponent—are the last obstacles to hurdle before the ACC slate begins Jan. 3. With that being the case, the Blue Devils are making sure to take these last two nonconference games seriously in order to be ready for the conference season.
"Every game we play is really important and what we have to do as a staff is make sure our guys understand that we are still in the process of becoming this great team," James said. "Everyone says we are, but we aren't.... We're trying to become mature, and that's what it's about."
One player who has shown to be well on his way to becoming a mature player is freshman point guard Tyus Jones. The Apple Valley, Minn., native has stepped up in primetime for the Blue Devils, going for 17 points against then-No. 19 Michigan State, 22 against then-No. 2 Wisconsin and 21 against Connecticut.
Heading into the season, many viewed Jones as a pass-first guard who would be the perfect floor general. But as he has shown when placed in the spotlight, Duke found much more than just an assist-happy player—it found a play-maker.
"The best thing Tyus does is make plays," James said. "I don't think that he's just a pass-first guy, at least we don't want him to fall into that. We want him to be a player, and a player with his talent understands when to set a guy up, when to take the shot, when to drive, when to shoot. And I think that in those moments, he's shown the ability to know when to do what."
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