The key three: Duke basketball vs. Notre Dame

The Blue Devils open ACC play Saturday with a road contest against Notre Dame, Duke's first trip to South Bend for a conference game. Three things that will enable the No. 7 Blue Devils to spoil the Fighting Irish's ACC debut:

Re-energize Rodney

The redshirt sophomore has hit a rough patch of late, even before he was limited against Eastern Michigan last week due to illness. Hood is seven for his last 20 from the field, and his scoring has tapered off over the last half of non-conference play. Although he's still producing, it's been much quieter and less efficient than what we saw against the likes of Davidson and East Carolina, games in which Hood totaled 52 points on 17-of-20 shooting. Getting him good looks at the basket early against the Fighting Irish could jumpstart Hood onto another hot shooting stretch.

Play solid team defense

With the loss of standout guard Jerian Grant for the season due to an academic issue, Notre Dame enters Saturday's game without its leading scorer and assist man. Pat Connaughton, Demetrius Jackson and Eric Atkins will all need to take on a bigger scoring load for the Fighting Irish, which means there will be no one player that Duke has to shut down to win. Communication on the defensive end will be critical, as will defensive rotations—Notre Dame ranks seventh in the country with 17.8 assists per game.

Handle the hostile environment

Duke hasn't played a true road game this season—the Blue Devils' 13 nonconference games consisted of eight games at Cameron Indoor Stadium, three games at Madison Square Garden and one game each at Chicago's United Center and the Greensboro Coliseum Notre Dame's Purcell Pavilion can be a tough place to play, and the young Blue Devils will need to keep their composure as they begin conference play as significant favorites on the road.