The ACC main event takes place Saturday evening as the Duke Blue Devils (20-2, 12-0 ACC) travel to Clemson to take on the Tigers (18-5, 10-2 ACC) as they welcome back Dick Vitale to the announcers booth after multiple bouts with cancer. The Blue Devils haven’t lost this calendar year and are facing their hardest game left on their schedule in their quest for a 20-0 ACC regular season.
The Tigers got lost in the trap that is Atlanta as they were taken down by the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (11-12, 5-7 ACC) in triple overtime, 89-86 earlier in the week. The Yellow Jackets followed up a missed jumper with a lay in as time expired in regulation to force overtime. Neither team scored in the final 2 minutes of the first OT session, and the Yellow Jackets again made a basket in the final seconds to force the third frame. Chase Hunter missed a three at the buzzer to tie the game in the 3rd overtime, and the Yellow Jackets escaped with the win, a devastating loss for the Tigers who are now 2 games back from the Blue Devils for first place in the ACC.
The Blue Devils made easy work of the Syracuse Orange on Wednesday night, having their second thirty point advantage over an ACC opponent in a row. Maliq Brown made his first trip to Syracuse since transferring to Duke in the offseason and made an immediate impact with 4 steals, multiple deflections, 8 rebounds, and 6 points. The Blue Devils played 12 players and were able to experiment with different lineups in the rout of the Orange. Five Blue Devils finished in double digits led by Tyrese Proctor’s 16 points.
Key Points:
Duke
- Establish dominance early. Littlejohn will be rocking and looking for a reason to explode. The Blue Devils need to shake off their sluggish start they had against the Orange and dive straight into buckets against the Tigers.
- Maintain their defensive intensity. Maliq Brown’s return has brought back a defensive fire in the Blue Devils. He is pest on the defensive end and disrupts any offensive flow his opponents have. Continue to disrupt and the Devils leave Clemson 13-0
- Manage the Pace- Force Clemson to play the Blue Devil’s game. Duke wants to run when necessary but has the ability to slow the pace.
Clemson
- Embrace home court advantage. Get the crowd into the game early and often. Use their 6th man to disrupt the Devils flow and get them to play the game the Tigers want to play.
- Minimize turnovers. The Blue Devils are a Top-5 defensive squad who love to turn teams over and get out on the break. By limiting turnovers, the Tigers will take possession away from Devils, limiting their scoring potential.
- Find the range from behind the arc. The Devil’s defense is fierce on the interior, the Blue Devils do not start a player under 6’5”. Finding their shot from the perimeter will negate the Devil’s interior size and entice them to get into a 3 point shooting contest.
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