After taking care of business against Brown, Duke welcomes Boston College to Cameron Indoor Stadium for the Blue Devils’ first home ACC contest of the season. The Blue Zone breaks down three keys for the New Year’s Eve matchup:
Take care of the basketball
If there’s one thing Boston College excels at, it’s forcing turnovers. The Eagles rank 26th in the country in turnovers forced per game and 32nd in steals per contest. Tre Jones’ (hopeful) return should help mitigate this issue for Duke, but avoiding giveaways is a problem any young team is going to inevitably struggle with, especially as conference play begins.
The Blue Devils did a great job taking care of the ball in their first ACC game at Virginia Tech, totaling a mere seven turnovers. That kind of play will have to continue Tuesday if Duke hopes to start its conference season 2-0 for just the second time in four years.
Open up the floor
You knew it couldn’t be long until this preview mentioned something about the Blue Devils’ 3-point shooting woes. Duke shot a treacherous 2-of-16 from downtown in its win over the Bears, not hitting its first trey until there was less than seven minutes remaining in the game. This team won’t be able to survive ACC play if that type of shooting continues.
The solution to the problem, however, isn’t strictly reliant on the Blue Devils’ perimeter threats. It actually starts on the inside. Duke needs to feed Vernon Carey Jr. to start off the game, and the freshman big must make the most of those early touches. Then, once Carey commands attention in the paint, he can kick out to Alex O’Connell, Matthew Hurt, Joey Baker and company for rhythm threes.
Yes, Duke has to prove it can hit shots from beyond the arc, but forcing up contested threes isn’t the way to do that. Rather, the Blue Devils must run through their most polished offensive weapon and allow Carey to open up the floor for the rest of the team.
Keep Mitchell at bay
No, he doesn’t lead the Eagles in scoring. In fact, he only averages 7.2 points per game. However, there is no doubt that Steffon Mitchell is Boston College’s most impactful player. The 6-foot-8 forward is one of the top overall defenders in the ACC, leading the conference with 2.3 steals per contest and placing fourth with 8.9 rebounds per game. Mitchell is also an adept playmaker, ranking second on the team in assists.
Overall, the junior can affect the game in a myriad of ways while he’s on the court. If the Eagles pull off the upset, he will be a major reason why.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.