After handily defeating both No. 16 seed Robert Morris and No. 8 seed San Diego State in the opening rounds of the NCAA tournament, the top-seeded Blue Devils will face No. 5 seed Utah in a Sweet 16 matchup Friday at 9:45 p.m. at NRG Stadium in Houston. Three keys to a Duke win, which would put the Blue Devils one game away from Indianapolis and the Final Four.
Play tight perimeter defense
Utah makes 48.5 percent of its shots from the field—good for 13th in the nation—and a big reason why is a duo of dangerous guards in Delon Wright and Brandon Taylor, the Utes’ two leading scorers.At 6-foot-5, Wright is capable of carving up any defense off the dribble—especially by using screens effectively to get to the foul line—and usually gets most of the attention, but Taylor is a deadly shooter from long range at 44 percent and can make several triples in a row when he gets it going.
Defending Wright and Taylor will require a team effort for the Blue Devils, who will need to communicate and support each other when Utah's guards look to penetrate. The Utes have dangerous finishers in Jordan Loveridge and Jakob Poeltl at their disposal if Duke pays too much attention to the guards, so seeing whether or not the Blue Devils can stop Utah in regular man-to-man defense will definitely be a key to watch Friday night.
Feed the beast
Jahlil Okafor’s dominant stretch in the regular season has continued into the tournament, with the 270-pound big man averaging 23.5 points per game in his NCAA tournament debut. The Utes’ solution for Okafor, will likely be Poeltl, a 7-foot, 230-pound forward. The Austrian post player was a revelation for the Utes in their opening-round matchup against Stephen F. Austin, with 18 points, eight rebounds and five blocks, and played solidly against Georgetown as well.
But Poeltl's size disadvantage will certainly hurt him in his effort to contain one of the best big men in college basketball in Okafor, who should be able to use his typical array of post moves to demand double teams or score efficiently. If Duke’s perimeter players can find a way to continue getting the Chicago native the ball throughout the game against Poeltl and Dallin Bachynski, the Blue Devils should continue getting the good looks that make them an elite offensive team.
Stay patient on offense
The Blue Devils may have a difficult time collecting offensiverebounds in Friday’s game, especially since the Utes have not one, but two 7-footers at their disposal. Along with Poeltl, Bachynski stands tall in Utah’s lineup—the senior came off the bench to record nine points and eight rebounds in Utah's Round of 32 win against Georgetown. The Utes rank seventh in basketball statistician Ken Pomeroy's adjusted defense metric, so don't be surprised if they do a good job keeping the Blue Devils off the glass and limiting them to one shot each time down the floor.
As a result, Duke will need to stay within the flow of its offense when it gets out of rhythm or if it is unable to get out to big leads early like it was in its first two NCAA tournament games. With Okafor, swingman Justise Winslow and point guard Tyus Jones, the Blue Devils have the tools to get inside and create good looks as long as they wait to attack in the halfcourt. Taking quick shots and giving the ball back to a methodical Utah offense is exactly what the Utes want and is one of the ways Duke could see its NCAA tournament run cut short Friday night.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.
Jacob Weiss is a Trinity senior. His column, "not jumping to any conclusions," runs on alternate Fridays.