The No. 18 Blue Devils have a chance to keep rising in the ACC standings Saturday afternoon against Clemson less than 48 hours after a dramatic 86-78 win against No. 8 North Carolina. Here are three keys to the game:
Shut down Blossomgame
Averaging 17.8 points a game and 5.5 rebounds per game, forward Jaron Blossomgame is Clemson’s main offensive threat entering Saturday’s contest. Blossomgame is shooting 52.2 percent from the field and does the majority of his damage from inside the arc. The Blue Devils had a tough time containing the redshirt senior in last year’s 68-63 loss to the Tigers, when he put up 17 points and grabbed six boards. If Duke can keep the ball out of Blossomgame's hands, Saturday’s contest should be easy for the Blue Devils.
Convert from deep
After struggling from beyond the arc in recent weeks, Duke finally found its rhythm again against North Carolina. The Blue Devils shot better than 48 percent from deep and converted on 13-of-27 three-point attempts on the night, well above the team’s 37.4 percent clip on the season. Grayson Allen had another strong night, shooting 7-for-12 from long range, and he is now 20-of-41 in his last four games after losing his range amid all the chaos surrounding his season. If Duke can continue its hot shooting from downtown, it should be able to cruise to a victory.
Keep the freshmen going
Although they have not been given as many minutes as people expected entering the season due to injuries, the Blue Devil freshmen have really begun to pick up the pace of late. Jayson Tatum was huge against North Carolina with his 19 second-half points, and he also used a strong second half against Pittsburgh to propel Duke.
Harry Giles has been efficient recently as well. Despite averaging just 12 minutes a contest, the freshman has not tried to do too much. In his last two games, Giles is 5-for-5 from the field with 11 points in just 17 minutes of play. If Giles, Tatum, Marques Bolden and Frank Jackson, and Tatum continue to grow and be effective, Duke will have a lot of depth and can be more aggressively defensively as fouling out will no longer be as much of a concern.
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Digital Strategy Director for Vol. 115, Michael was previously Sports Editor for Vol. 114 and Assistant Blue Zone Editor for Vol. 113. Michael is a senior majoring in Statistical Science and is interested in data analytics and using data to make insights.