Key Three: Duke basketball vs Yale

After using a strong second half to push past UNC Wilmington, No. 4 seed Duke will look to avoid another upset Saturday when they take on 12th-seeded Yale in the Round of 32. In a matchup between two academic heavyweights, the Bulldogs will play just 100 miles from Yale's campus, hoping to advance to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in program history. Here are three keys to the game: 

Make Mason lay the bricks

Against Baylor Thursday afternoon, Yale sophomore Makai Mason had himself a game, posting a career-high 31 points—including a perfect 11-for-11 from the free throw line—in the Bulldogs' upset. The 6-foot-1 guard shot 9-of-18 from the field and was active on the defensive end as well, collecting six rebounds. Although Mason was Yale’s leading scorer at 16.3 points per game in the regular season, his performance in the Bulldogs’ first tournament appearance since 1962 was far above the showing he had against Duke in an 80-61 loss earlier this season.

In the teams' early season matchup in Cameron Indoor Stadium, the Blue Devils contained Mason and held him to just 13 points on 5-of-15 shooting from the field. Although the Greenfield, Mass., native dished out eight assists, it was nowhere near enough to carry his team in the second half. 

For a Duke defense that has proven vulnerable at times and gave up 85 points Thursday to UNC Wilmington, defending Mason one-on-one will start with the backcourt duo of Grayson Allen and Derryck Thornton. If the Blue Devils opt to play zone, they must be wary of Mason—who shot almost 37 percent from deep this season. 

Stay out of foul trouble

When the teams last met, Duke started senior Amile Jefferson and brought freshman Brandon Ingram off the bench. Nearly four months later, Jefferson is sidelined with a foot injury, which has forced the Blue Devils to utilize a seven-man rotation that has created a problematic lack of depth at times. In Duke's last two games, multiple players have fouled out, forcing Blue Devil head coach Mike Krzyzewski to dig deeper into his short bench. 

Like Duke, Yale uses a seven-man group and no player off the Bulldog bench played more than 16 minutes against Baylor. But the motivated and hungry Ivy League champions will certainly be unafraid and willing to attack the Blue Devils in front of a likely pro-Yale continent.

Outside of Mason, senior forwards Brandon Sherrod and Justin Sears average double-digit points and will challenge Duke's limited frontcourt in the paint. With the Bulldogs’ arsenal of weapons, the Blue Devils will need to defend without fouling—keeping their full complement of players on the floor and not allowing Yale to get to the line where they connected on 22 free throws Thursday.

Exploit the size advantage

One critical advantage Duke had against UNC-Wilmington and will certainly have against the Bulldogs is size. The Seahawks had just one player taller than 6-foot-9 in their rotation and Yale's tallest rotation player stands at the same mark. With the lanky and athletic Brandon Ingram standing at 6-foot-9 and Plumlee—who exploded for 23 points, eight rebounds and three blocks in his team's first round—at 7-foot-1, expect the Blue Devils to make the most of their height and try to go down low early and often.

Against the Bulldogs on Nov. 25, Duke registered 36 points in the paint and shot 48 percent from the floor. Although Plumlee scored just five points in that game, the graduate student's confidence is sky-high after a career game against UNC-Wilmington and he will likely be a crucial piece of the Blue Devil offense Saturday. Although Allen may be Duke’s leading scorer and the Blue Devils primarily rely on perimeter scoring threats, Krzyzewski’s team has to make an effort to attack Yale’s weaknesses down low to move onto the Sweet Sixteen. 


Mitchell Gladstone | Sports Managing Editor

Twitter: @mpgladstone13

A junior from just outside Philadelphia, Mitchell is probably reminding you how the Eagles won the Super Bowl this year and that the Phillies are definitely on the rebound. Outside of The Chronicle, he majors in Economics, minors in Statistics and is working toward the PJMS certificate, in addition to playing trombone in the Duke University Marching Band. And if you're getting him a sandwich with beef and cheese outside the state of Pennsylvania, you best not call it a "Philly cheesesteak." 

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