WASHINGTON—The ACC experienced lots of technical difficulties with the shot clock during Wednesday’s second-round contest between Pittsburgh and Syracuse.
There could be plenty more of those scoreboard errors with the amount of offense on display Thursday.
On the heels of a high-flying 92-89 victory against 12th-seeded N.C. State Wednesday, fifth-seeded Duke will battle fourth-ranked Notre Dame for a spot in the ACC semifinals Thursday at 2 p.m. at the Verizon Center. The Blue Devils and the Wolfpack looked as if they were playing a video game for much of Wednesday’s contest, compiling gaudy offensive statistics as seemingly every shot hoisted up fell through the net.
Eventually, the N.C. State offense cooled down a bit, and Duke clamped down enough on defense to eke out a victory. But the Blue Devils know they would be pushing their luck to engage in another shootout with the Fighting Irish in the next round.
“It was frustrating but fun. Fun because we were scoring, but frustrating because they were scoring as well,” junior Matt Jones said. “We definitely have to shore things up, but they were making tough shots—we can’t have that happen again.”
The regular-season meeting between Duke (23-9) and Notre Dame (20-10) was a 95-91 Fighting Irish win at Cameron Indoor Stadium Jan. 16 in a contest cut from the same cloth as the Blue Devils’ win Wednesday. With its 52 percent shooting from the field and 12 3-pointers against N.C. State, Duke surged to No. 3 in basketball statistician Ken Pomeroy’s adjusted offensive efficiency rankings—bumping Notre Dame down one slot to No. 4.
The Fighting Irish trot out one of the most balanced starting fives in the country—each member averages at least 11.0 points per game—but, like the Blue Devils, do not get a ton of production from their bench. Point guard Demetrius Jackson merited second-team All-ACC recognition after leading Notre Dame in scoring at 15.9 points per game and dishing out the most assists in the conference at 5.0 per game. The junior has plenty of weapons to help him out on the perimeter, as both Steve Vasturia and V.J. Beachem are potent shooters from the outside who are 4-1 against Duke in their careers.
On the interior, the Fighting Irish can go to third-team All-ACC selection Zach Auguste or forward Bonzie Colson—a consistent thorn in the Blue Devils' side—for solid production. Colson torched Duke in Cameron for a career-high 31 points and eight offensive rebounds and also played a big role in Notre Dame's ousting of the Blue Devils in last year’s ACC tournament.
The sophomore forward stands just 6-foot-5, but is relentless in the paint and uses his sturdy frame well to get to his desired spots down low. Auguste also grabbed 14 rebounds in the January matchup, and Duke will have to concentrate more on keeping him and Colson off the glass if it hopes to continue vying for an ACC title.
“They're an explosive offensive team. I'll tell you what, a game similar to [Wednesday's] is the game in Cameron. We both scored over 90 points,” Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “They're a really good offensive team and so are we. They'll have a little bit more rest, but our guys will be ready to go. We're both good teams, good teams that will do a good job in the NCAA tournament. I look forward to doing it.”
Defending that duo will be even more difficult for the Blue Devils if their lone true big man, graduate student Marshall Plumlee, is hindered in any way after breaking his nose in Wednesday’s battle. Plumlee took an accidental elbow to the face from Jones during the second half and—after the initial cut was cleaned up—returned to play well down the stretch, but was not in the locker room postgame, instead walking with team trainer Jose Fonseca for additional treatment.
Even if Plumlee returns without any lingering effects, Duke will have a tough challenge keeping pace with Notre Dame, which is no picnic to defend thanks to its motion-heavy offense. Four Blue Devils played 32 minutes or more against the Wolfpack, and now have to come back and do so again less than 24 hours later against a rested Fighting Irish squad that has been off since Saturday afternoon.
Duke has gone through several stretches during which its games have been packed tightly together in the regular season, but has not played on consecutive days since its first two games of the season. Still, the Blue Devils believe those parts of their schedule—plus the increased minutes their six rotation players have been playing since Amile Jefferson’s injury in December—will help them cope with the physical demands of tournament play.
“At UNC earlier this year when Matt went out, some of the guys had to play an entire half without coming out…I don’t think it will take a toll on us as a group going into next week. It may for other teams, but I don’t think it will for us,” said Kennard, who scored 30 points in the regular-season loss to the Fighting Irish. “We’ve played some Saturday-Monday games a lot earlier in the season. I think that was kind of preparing us for these back-to-back games and then next week with the NCAA tournament.”
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