The fourth-seeded Blue Devils begin their tournament run Thursday at 12:15 p.m. against No. 13 seed UNC Wilmington from the Colonial Athletic Association. Duke enters with the highest winning percentage in the history of the NCAA tournament and will look to improve that mark and set up a matchup Saturday against the winner of Baylor/Yale. The Blue Zone takes a look at one player from each team who could be the difference in the game:
Duke: guard Luke Kennard
Through 33 games, the nation knows about the Blue Devils' potent offense—one that ranks 17th in the country at 81.5 points per game. Although sophomore Grayson Allen and freshman Brandon Ingram are the team's top two scorers, Kennard's ability to get hot from beyond the arc could make the deadly Duke attack even more dangerous in the postseason. The Franklin, Ohio native has proven to be a capable long-range threat despite knocking down only 33.3 percent of his triples in the regular season.
The 6-foot-5 guard has had his ups and downs in a roller-coaster freshman campaign. At home against N.C. State and North Carolina, Kennard posted 26 and 20 points, respectively, but in critical games against Wake Forest on Mar. 1 and Notre Dame in the ACC tournament, Kennard was quiet. In the Blue Devils' most recent loss to the Fighting Irish, the freshman managed just six points on 2-of-14 shooting and showed some of the struggles that plagued him in nonconference play.
Going forward, the Blue Devils will need more on offense than just Allen and Ingram. Look for head coach Mike Krzyzewski to rely on Kennard's ability to stretch the floor early and often Thursday against a Seahawks team that will key in on Duke's two leading scorers.
UNC Wilmington: guard Chris Flemmings
The Cary, N.C., native is his team's leading scorer and a versatile player that has the potential to give Duke trouble from the get-go. Flemmings averaged 16.1 points per game and shot better than 50 percent from the field—as well as 36.7 percent from downtown—this season. At just 6-foot-5, the redshirt junior would not be expected to be a critical rebounder on most teams, but Flemmings leads the team on the glass with 5.9 rebounds per game.
The guard is a key cog in a UNC Wilmington defense that has held opponents to just 71.4 points per game this season. After sitting out the 2014-15 season as a transfer student, Flemmings finished second on the Seahawks with 43 steals and added 22 blocks for his team.
If UNC-Wilmington is to pull off the stunner and knock the Blue Devils out in the first round, Flemmings will have to be at his best on both offense and defense for the Seahawks Thursday afternoon.
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Twitter: @mpgladstone13
A junior from just outside Philadelphia, Mitchell is probably reminding you how the Eagles won the Super Bowl this year and that the Phillies are definitely on the rebound. Outside of The Chronicle, he majors in Economics, minors in Statistics and is working toward the PJMS certificate, in addition to playing trombone in the Duke University Marching Band. And if you're getting him a sandwich with beef and cheese outside the state of Pennsylvania, you best not call it a "Philly cheesesteak."