No. 14 Duke looks to stay unbeaten in ACC play with a trip to Winston Salem as the Blue Devils take on the Demon Deacons at 7 p.m. Duke is coming off an 81-64 victory against Boston College in their conference opener and will look to start 2-0 on the road in the ACC for just the second time under head coach Mike Krzyzewski. Here are three keys to the game:
Win the rebounding battle
In five games since losing team captain and leading rebounder Amile Jefferson, Duke has won the rebounding battle three times, all three of which resulted in victories. In his place, freshman Brandon Ingram has stepped up on the boards—pulling in an average of 8.8 rebounds during the stretch, including two games with double-digit rebounds.
But with the glaring exception of Utah's center Jakob Poetl, the Blue Devils have yet to face a frontline as skilled as what awaits them Wednesday without Jefferson. To win the battle on the boards, Duke will have to contain Wake Forest senior Devin Thomas—who averages a double-double—no easy task for inexperienced freshman Chase Jeter and center Marshall Plumlee, who is starting at center for only the second time in his college career. If the Blue Devils happen to contain Thomas, they will still have to face the athleticism and versatility of Konstantinos Mitoglou, a 6-foot-10 Grecian, who is averaging 6.3 rebounds per game.
Come out strong
It took Duke 14 minutes to pull ahead of Boston College on Saturday. Three days earlier, it took the Blue Devils 19 minutes to get rolling against a struggling Long Beach State team. If the team wants to hold its own with a Wake Forest team that has led No. 6 Xavier and No. 18 Louisville late and handled Louisiana State and star freshman Ben Simmons in its past three games, they will have to focus from the first whistle to the last.
If Duke falls behind early, the Demon Deacons could feed off of a home crowd desperate for a marquee victory after two close calls against ranked opponents in the past two weeks. The Blue Devils have yet to been tested on the road with a big deficit and such a task might be too much to overcome for the young squad.
Defend the perimeter well
Since losing to Utah on Dec. 19, the Blue Devils have allowed opponents to convert 26 of 64 three-point attempts. By no means are the Demon Deacons effective from behind the arc—they shoot just 33 percent from deep as a team—but the trio of Mitoglou, guard Bryant Crawford and guard Mitchell Wilbekin has combined for 72 made three-point attempts this season, with each shooting better than 35 percent from beyond the arc.
This defensive task will largely come down to the guard play of Grayson Allen, Matt Jones, Luke Kennard and Derryck Thornton. Jones and Allen have proven themselves to be tough defenders with Allen taking on a bigger role this season against the top options on other teams. The two newcomers to the guard rotation—Thornton and Kennard—still have more to learn about how they fit into Krzyzewski's defensive scheme depending on whether the team opts to play zone or man-defense against its opponent. But Thornton showed improvement in the win against Boston College and Kennard has shown the tenacity needed to hound the Demon Deacon guards.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.