Key Three: Duke basketball vs UNC Wilmington

After losing in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament to Notre Dame, the Blue Devils enter the NCAA tournament as the fourth seed in the West Region and will play UNC Wilmington Thursday at 12:15 p.m. in Providence, R.I. The Seahawks secured the automatic bid from the Colonial Athletic Association and will appear in the Big Dance for the first time since 2006. Here are three keys to the game:

Take advantage of the foul line

Playing with a face mask to protect a broken nose, Duke center Marshall Plumlee struggled from the foul line against the Fighting Irish, missing all four of his free throw attempts. The misses proved to be critical as Notre Dame fought back from a 16-point deficit to force overtime. Against UNC Wilmington, the senior captain and the rest of his teammates will need to cash in from the charity stripe, especially considering that the Seahawks allow opponents to get 29 percent of their points from the foul line. 

UNC Wilmington’s aggressive press-defense forces opponents to work for its points, but the Blue Devils are no strangers to getting to the foul line. Leading scorer Grayson Allen is one of the best players in the nation at drawing fouls and Luke Kennard led the ACC in free throw percentage at nearly 89 percent during the regular season. With freshman Brandon Ingram also capable of drawing fouls against undersized opponents, Duke's ability to get to the charity stripe could help the team avoid a first-round upset. 

Break the press

UNC Wilmington's press defense allowed it to come away with almost 7.5 steals per game as part of the nearly 15 turnovers they forced per contest. With only one true point guard on the roster—freshman Derryck Thornton—the Blue Devils may have a tough time breaking the press. In two games against a similar defensive scheme that Louisville played this season, Duke went just 1-1 and averaged 15.5 turnovers per game. Duke will need a team effort in order to push the ball up the floor and get high-percentage scoring opportunities on offense. With limited depth off the bench, Duke will need Thornton’s ball-handling skills to shine in order to advance to the Round of 32.

Force the Seahawks to shoot from the outside

UNC Wilmington feeds off of its press, as they try to get out in transition as much as possible. The Seahawks are a team of slashers, and outside of leading scorer Chris Flemmings, they are not much of a threat from the outside. UNC Wilmington is 228th in the nation in 3-point percentage at just 33.6 percent per contest, and it prefers to stray away from the perimeter at all costs. Forcing the Seahawks to slow down and shoot over the top of the defense can go a long way for Duke, as UNC Wilmington tends to struggle in those scenarios. If the Blue Devils can force the Seahawks into low percentage looks for most of the game, Duke has a good chance of emerging victorious.