BREAKING NEW: Notre dame has made it possible again
Following a depressing defeat to their rivals on Tobacco Road on Saturday, the Blue Devils will be back home to play Notre Dame on Wednesday night. The Blue Zone identifies three essential elements for a Duke victory prior to tipoff.
McCain at the edge
Jared McCain, a rookie guard, came into the season touted as a pure shooter. In addition to lottery predictions, his ability to shoot beyond the arc won him the McDonald’s All-American Games 3-point competition.
Although the Sacramento, California native’s offensive skill set still revolves around the deep shot, a period of poorer shooting has highlighted McCain’s amazing dexterity at the rim. McCain’s three-point percentage in his last five games is 34.4%, which is not horrible, but maybe a little mediocre for
When Duke previously played Notre Dame, roughly a month before its game on Wednesday, sophomore big Mark Mitchell led the scoring with 23 points, while senior guard Jeremy Roach scored 18. These three makes at the perimeter accounted for the total of these points. Given the Fighting Irish’s weakness around the rim, the Blue Devils would gain by utilizing McCain’s steadily improving drive-to-high-percentage attempt skills.
defending the stone
Duke has generally had the best ball security in the country. With the fewest turnovers per game and the 13th-best assist-to-turnover ratio among Division I teams, it is ranked 14th. That is not to argue that the group has not made mistakes in this area. The Blue Devils’ journey to South Bend, Indiana, in January saw
In their matchup with North Carolina, the Blue Devils also committed 11 turnovers. In transition, the Tar Heels successfully pressed Duke’s feeble defensive effort, leading to 19 points with plenty of momentum. It is difficult to believe that the Irish won’t enter Cameron Indoor Stadium trying to take the rock coast-to-coast and searching for misreads in the passing lanes.
Sustaining vigor
The headlines following the Blue Devils’ defeat to North Carolina in their season-opening series were clear: the Tar Heels just wanted it more.
Head coach Jon Scheyer emphasized that the key to success was effort when chasing lost balls. North Carolina was more eager to capture them and wasted no time in seizing opportunities to win its battles for
