After dominating their first two regular season games against subpar opponents, the No. 1 ranked Blue Devils travel to Madison Square Garden in New York to face No. 7 Kansas in the Champions Classic Tuesday night. The Blue Devils will be without three of their highly touted freshman against a Jayhawk team coming off a hard-fought overtime loss in its first game against sixth-ranked Indiana. Here are three keys to success for the Blue Devils:
Defend the backcourt
In its opening two games, Duke’s defense was solid, limiting opponents to an average of 55 points on 32.3 percent shooting from the floor and just a 16.2 percent clip from beyond the arc. If the Blue Devils want to continue their winning ways, they must continue to bring the same intensity on the defensive end. Duke's perimeter defense will be put to the test against a Jayhawk team featuring veteran guards Frank Mason III and Devonte’ Graham as well as one of the nation’s top recruits in Josh Jackson. The Blue Devils will need to stay out of foul trouble and pressure the Jayhawks' guards in hopes of forcing turnovers. Duke forced an average of 17.5 giveaways per game and scored 34 points off turnovers in its first two contests, and it must continue this trend against arguably the most talented team it will face in the regular season.
Connect From Beyond The Arc
Without the likes of Jayson Tatum, Harry Giles and Marques Bolden, much of Duke’s offense has come from penetration by guards Grayson Allen, Luke Kennard and Frank Jackson and their ability to find open shooters behind the 3-point line. The Blue Devils must find open shooters and knock-down their 3-point shots if they want to keep up with Kansas' potent offense. The Jayhawks put up 99 points in their 103-99 overtime loss to the Hoosiers and shot 43.7 percent from the field. The shorthanded Blue Devils attempted 51 3-pointers in their first two contests, draining 19 of them. Duke must continue to penetrate and move the ball on offense to create easy looks for shooters in order to be successful Tuesday night.
Stay Out Of Foul Trouble
Head coach Mike Krzyzewski will likely feature a rotation of just seven players Tuesday given the plethora of injuries to expected contributors. Big men Chase Jeter and Amile Jefferson must stay out of foul trouble along with the Blue Devils' guards for them to stay competitive. Jeter picked up four fouls against Grand Canyon Saturday and Jackson had four fouls in both of Duke's first two games. With the Blue Devils' thin bench, the players on the floor must play smart basketball against the Jayhawks and play solid defense without fouling.
On the other end, Duke has done a good job of drawing fouls, taking more than 30 free throws in both games so far, and will look to keep it up Tuesday. The Jayhawks had six players commit at least four fouls in their season opener, with four starters fouling out.
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