Duke will take its seven-game winning streak into Las Vegas Saturday for a matchup with UNLV at 5:15 p.m. It will be the first meeting between the two teams since the Blue Devils upset the undefeated Runnin' Rebels in the 1991 Final Four en route to their first national championship. The Blue Zone takes a look at a player from each team who could be the difference-maker in the game:
Duke: Forward Jayson Tatum
After struggling to find a real rhythm but showing glimpses of big-time talent in his season debut against Maine, Tatum dazzled under the bright lights of Madison Square Garden Tuesday against Florida. The freshman played 29 minutes in just his second game back from a foot injury, scoring 22 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field and adding eight rebounds.
It was another slow start for the five-star forward, but he turned in on late in the first half as his defense sparked a 15-3 Blue Devil run in the waning minutes of the first half. And in the second half, he drained a pair of smooth step-back jumpers to ignite a healthy Duke contingent in New York. The St. Louis native has still attempted just two 3-point attempts in his two games, and outside of sophomore guard Luke Kennard—who was 5-for-7 from long range against the Gators—the Blue Devils went just 2-of-10 on 3-pointers in their 84-74 win.
Going up against the nation's 164th-ranked defense, according to basketball statistician Ken Pomeroy's adjusted defense metric, Duke should have no problem handling UNLV on the offensive end. But the Blue Devils could always benefit from more offensive weapons. Kennard and forward Amile Jefferson have combined for more than 42 percent of Duke's scoring so far, and with Grayson Allen still on the mend, a healthy Tatum should continue to be a critical piece of the Blue Devil attack going forward.
UNLV: Forward Tyrell Green
With graduate transfer Christian Jones sidelined by injury, Green has improved his production to complement the Runnin' Rebels' leading scorer, Jaylen Poyser. Green racked up 18 points and nine boards in UNLV's loss at Arizona State last week. Although the 6-foot-7 senior hit on just two of his seven shots from downtown, Green is shooting almost 50 percent on 3-pointers and has knocked down 92.3 percent of his attempts from the free-throw line.
Pomeroy ranks the Runnin' Rebel offense just 203rd in the nation, and the road will not get any easier against a stingy Duke defense that has held its opponents to 64.3 points per game thus far. Poyser will certainly be under a close watch come Saturday, so it will likely be up to the rest of a balanced UNLV scoring attack—the Runnin' Rebels have seven players averaging at least 7.0 points per contest—to put points on the board. If UNLV hopes to keep pace with the nation's top offense, it will need Green to be a threat both beyond the arc and at the rim.
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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."