When the Duke Blue Devils take on the North Carolina Tar Heels on Saturday night, they will have a significant chance to move up in the ACC rankings. Prior to their yearly rivalry matchup with UNC, Duke leads by three games to one. This is especially true considering that the Tar Heels suffered their first conference defeat on Tuesday night against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. In terms of overall record, the Tar Heels lead 143-117 for those who are keeping track at home between the two teams.
The clubs’ past two meetings, which took place at the Dean Smith Centre on March 4, were won by the Blue Devils. As of Saturday night’s match, Duke is 7-2 in league play and appears to have found its identity as they have only lost once in their previous eight conference games. Check out the three secrets to the Blue Devils’ success as they prepare to play UNC in a highly anticipated meeting of Top 10 teams.
Keep RJ Davis & Armando Bacot in check
This season, Armando Bacot and RJ Davis have both been outstanding for the Tar Heels. Duke’s team may have a difficult night on Saturday if they don’t focus on reducing their influence. Despite being the ACC’s top scorer (21.5 points per game), Davis and his Tar Heel teammates may need to take note after what happened on Tuesday night. The Blue Devils should be aware that Davis wants to increase the involvement of Bacot and other players in the offensive flow. Despite shooting just 11 of 24 from the field and 3 of 8 from beyond the arc, Davis finished with 28 points and four assists.
Bacot only attempted eight shots during Tuesday’s defeat over the Yellow Jackets at UNC. He will undoubtedly give Kyle Filipowski everything he can handle in the painted area, as he leads the conference in rebounds per game (9.9). On Saturday night, that figure ought to increase. In the rivalry game coming Saturday, Davis and Bacot should have a much more influence, thus Ryan Young, Mark Mitchell, and Filipowski must be prepared to compete on the interior.
Prior to this Saturday’s game, the Blue Devils are allowing just 67.2 points per game as a team in ACC play. With 69.2 points allowed per game, North Carolina isn’t far behind them in sixth place in the league, where they are ranked fourth in terms of scoring defence. When the rivals square off on Saturday night, the game most definitely ought to be a defensive struggle. Duke may have a difficult night if they are unable to contain Davis and Bacot’s output.
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