Club Cameron is back open for business this afternoon.
Following a thrilling 73-68 comeback victory against No. 4 Ohio State on Wednesday, the No. 2 Duke basketball squad will host Delaware at 2 p.m. today.
Here are your three keys to this afternoon's action:
Thronton stepping in for Curry
This just in from the team's official Twitter account: Tyler Thornton is expected to start in place of Seth Curry because of a "left ankle injury."
This is a welcome day off for Curry, who has been nursing a leg injury all season and looked worn out all evening vs. Ohio State. He had easily his worst game of the year, going 1-for-6 from the field and finishing with just four points. There's no doubt Curry is not in the best shape of his career. The injury has prevented him from practicing regularly, which certainly affects his conditioning. And coming off the three games in three days at the Battle 4 Atlantis—in which he played at 30 minutes in each game—must have been difficult.
The questions are: Can Ty bring enough offensively to fill in for an evening? And will Coach K use more of Alex Murphy and Amile Jefferson to give his guards a break? Maybe this will be Murphy's chance to really show something.
Limiting second chance opportunities
Duke has not outrebounded a team since the game against Florida Gulf Coast. The key? Offensive rebounding, where the Blue Devils have been killed. If they lost to Ohio State, that would have been the big talking point afterwards—the Buckeyes grabbed 16 offensive boards, while Duke only pulled in seven. The real question is who will help Mason Plumlee. In addition to his 21 points, he pulled in 17 boards vs. Ohio State. Ryan Kelly? Just three rebounds. If this continues to be a problem, maybe Josh Hairston could be in for more time. The junior forward had two boards in 10 minutes vs. Ohio State, including the team's first offensive rebound of the game, a put-back layup. And it won't be easy going against this Delaware squad—Jemelle Hagins is averaging a double-double with 13.0 points and 13.4 rebounds per game.
So, is this a 3-point shooting team?
Duke finally came alive in the second half against Ohio State to finish with a 5-of-12 mark from beyond the arc. But that also came after two dreadful performances against Louisville (5-for-20, 25%) and VCU (3-of-15, 20%). The offense clearly runs through the post this year more than years past (see Plumlee, Mason). But who will step up to stretch out defenses? Rasheed Sulaimon has shown the ability to stroke, while Curry—when healthy—is one of the premier shooters in the nation. The X-Factor may be Kelly, who hit 3-of-5 attempts vs. the Buckeyes to snap four consecutive misses spanning the Louisville and VCU games.
Check back here for analysis during the game and follow @dukebasketball on Twitter for live updates.
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