The key three: Duke basketball vs. Boston College

After making it through the early portion of their schedule with an unblemished record, the Blue Devils kick off conference play against Boston College Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Eagles bring a 7-4 record to Durham for what will be their first true road game of the season, while Duke will be playing its third home game in less than a week following victories against Toledo and Wofford. Three keys to a Blue Devil victory in their ACC opener:

Start fast

Although Duke has won every game thus far by double digits, that doesn’t mean it has fully dominated every opponent. In their past two games, the Blue Devils have led far less talented teams—Toledo and Wofford—by just seven points or fewer at halftime. Duke was able to pull away and cruise to a victory in both of those contests, but as conference play begins that may not always turn out to be the case. It’s time for the Blue Devils to come out of the gates playing their A game and coast to an easy victory, instead of having to turn on the jets in the second half.

Contain the Eagles’ backcourt

Boston College is one of the few teams on Duke’s schedule that boasts a pair of guards who can hang with the Blue Devils’ duo of Tyus Jones and Quinn Cook. The Eagles’ veteran combo of Aaron Brown and Olivier Hanlan puts up more than 31 points per game, which exceeds the 25.8 points per contest that Duke’s starting guards average. Both Brown and Hanlan are very prone to turnovers—together they have just one more assist than turnovers—and the Blue Devils should be able to goad them into a few mistakes that they can turn into easy buckets on the other end.

Strong interior defense

The Eagles as a team are not a very potent threat from 3-point range, where they shoot 28.4 percent. That means if Duke can keep Boston College’s quick guards out of the lane and win the battles in the post, it should disrupt an Eagles offense that averages less than 70 point per game to begin with. Boston College features a starting center in Dennis Clifford who stands tall at 7-foot-1 and shoots an efficient 55.1 percent from the field. When Clifford needs a break, the Eagles turn to 6-foot-11 sophomore Will Magarity—their version of Marshall Plumlee. Both Clifford and Magarity have been plagued by foul trouble at times this year, so it is up to the Blue Devil interior trio of Jahlil Okafor, Amile Jefferson and Plumlee to get them out of their rhythm and force Boston College to fire away from the perimeter.