Following a tough trip to Chicago, Duke did not have much time to dwell on its first loss of the season.
After falling to No. 5 Kansas Tuesday night, the No. 4 Blue Devils return to Durham to play three games in the span of five days. The Blue Devils will begin that stretch when they to take on Florida Atlantic Friday at 7 p.m. at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
"Our last game, giving up 94 points and being outrebounded as badly as we did, that's not a winning equation," associate head coach Steve Wojciechowski said. "We have to figure out ways to turn that around."
Florida Atlantic’s biggest advantage against Duke (1-1) will be its size. Croatian center Dragan Sekelji stands at 7-feet tall and 250 pounds and is joined by the 6-foot-9, 245-pound Justin Raffington to form a frontcourt that could pose a challenge for the Blue Devils. Together, they have averaged 14.5 rebounds per game in their first two contests.
The Owls (1-1) have pulled down an average of 44.5 rebounds per game this year, compared to just 25.5 per contest for Duke, which is getting outrebounded by opponents by an average of 9.5 boards per game. Florida Atlantic's second-leading rebounder is 6-foot-4 guard Pablo Bertone.
"They are a team that has done a good job from a rebounding standpoint, but has good balance," Wojciechowski said. "They have guys on the perimeter, whether it's [Jackson] Trapp or Bertone who can fill it up from the perimeter, but they've also got guys inside that can hurt you."
In each of Duke's first two outings, it has struggled with frontcourt defense en route to allowing an average of 85.5 points. Against Davidson, senior forward De’Mon Brooks led the Wildcats with 27 points and seven rebounds. Tuesday against Kansas, sophomore forward Perry Ellis had his way against freshman Jabari Parker for most of the night, scoring 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting and grabbing nine rebounds.
“Me, I need to get a little more experience and be hungry to learn," Parker said following his team's loss Tuesday. "I have a long way to go. Defense wins championships, and I didn't show that."
The Blue Devils' other major weakness against Kansas was at the charity stripe, where Duke shot just 57.1 percent from the free throw line, making 16-of-28 and missing three front ends of one-and-ones.
“We're a good free throw-shooting team, even though our shots didn't fall tonight,” Rasheed Sulaimon said, who hit just two of his four free throws. “That made a big difference in the game, and we're going to go back and work on that."
Florida Atlantic has struggled with free-throw shooting this season as well. The Owls have converted on just 62.1 percent of their attempts from the charity stripe this year, missing 10 free throws in a 59-57 loss to St. Francis (NY), which opened the season by defeating ACC foe Miami.
Duke will hope to use its full-court pressure to force Florida Atlantic to turn the ball over. The Owls ranked 307th in the country in turnovers per game at 15.2 a season ago, and have given the ball away 15.5 times through two games this season.
In order to force turnovers, the Blue Devils will need to apply this pressure without getting into foul trouble. Parker, as well as Rodney Hood, played the latter portion of Duke's loss to Kansas with four fouls. The amount of fouls called across the nation has increased this year with the institution of new rules regarding hand checks and charges.
"We're all trying to adjust to the way the game is called, and you have to make quick adjustments. There's nothing like being in game situations to figure out how exactly that we need to play."
Daniel Carp contributed in reporting.
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