After a few days to stew on its 84-82 home loss to N.C. State Monday, Duke will finally return to the floor Saturday at Wake Forest looking to get back to .500 in ACC play. Here are three keys to success for the Blue Devils.
Get Kennard going again
For much of the nonconference season, there was arguably no better player in the country than Luke Kennard. The sophomore was Duke's best offensive weapon, scoring in double figures in each of the Blue Devils' first 15 contests. But since scoring a combined 50 points at Virginia Tech and against Georgia Tech to start the ACC season, Kennard has cooled off somewhat, going just 7-of-19 from beyond the arc and averaging almost four points below his season average in Duke's five most recent matchups.
Although the Franklin, Ohio, native put up 20 points Monday night against the Wolfpack, Kennard has not been able to find a steady rhythm like he did earlier in the year. With the Blue Devils still looking for a consistent go-to scoring option, the 6-foot-6 guard could take this weekend to cement himself as the team's top offensive weapon in advance of big-time matchups in the final weeks of ACC play.
Become road warriors
For the first time since the 1994-95 season, Duke has opened its conference slate with three consecutive defeats away from Cameron Indoor Stadium—a year in which the Blue Devils lost all of their ACC road games. And although Duke has been perfect in Durham against Wake Forest since the turn of the century, the Blue Devils are just 14-11 all-time at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
Duke has been outscored by 39 on the road against ACC opposition this year, and the Blue Devils have found themselves in a battle in nearly every game away from home with the exception of a 49-point blowout of UNLV in early December. With Wake Forest on the rise, Duke can expect Tie Dye Nation to come out in full force Saturday, and the Blue Devils desperately need their first road win to keep pace with the upper echelon of the league.
Consistent defense
At 81.4 points per game, the Demon Deacon offense is one of the ACC's best. After Duke surrendered 84 points to the Wolfpack earlier this week, it will need to tighten things up and play consistent defense to hold down Wake Forest. Last weekend against Miami, it took 20 minutes and a major lineup change by interim head coach Jeff Capel to shake things up for the Blue Devils and get them to lock down defensively on the Hurricanes. But away from the friendly confines of Cameron, Duke will need to be solid from the start.
Although Capel may not begin with the high-energy group of Frank Jackson, Jayson Tatum, Amile Jefferson, Matt Jones and Marques Bolden once again this weekend, expect Jones to lead the Blue Devil defense as it looks to improve on its 37th-ranked adjusted defense mark, according to basketball statistician Ken Pomeroy's latest ranking.
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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."