Know Your Opponent: Duke

By Matt Bowers

Duke Blue Devils (GoDuke.com)
Location: Durham, N.C.
Rankings: No. 2 KenPom, No. 7 AP
Record: 19-3, 9-2 ACC
NET/SOS: No. 6 NET, No. 19 SOS
Carolina Series History (Last Meeting): UNC leads, 139-112 (Duke 74, UNC 73 on March 15, 2019, in the ACC Tournament semifinal in Charlotte)

No matter what happens in games before or afterward, matchups between North Carolina and Duke always seem to be the center of the college basketball world, no matter the season. This year is no different, with ESPN once again providing blowout coverage of the game and originating its College GameDay pregame show from Chapel Hill.

Even as the hype promoting Carolina-Duke as the greatest rivalry in college basketball has grown in recent years, the competition continues to deliver. Duke and Carolina have split their last 100 meetings, and each team has scored 7,746 points during that span.

Entering Saturday's game ranked seventh in the Associated Press poll, Duke has been ranked in the top 10 in the nation for 38 consecutive weeks. It started this season 15-1, losing only unexpectedly at home to Stephen F. Austin on November 26. Early wins included a neutral site victory over Kansas and a road win at Michigan State in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

The Blue Devils have won four consecutive games since losing back-to-back contests at Clemson and at home to Louisville almost three weeks ago. Against a 19^th-ranked strength of schedule this season, Duke is 4-1 in Quadrant 1 games and 6-1 on the road overall.

Once again, Duke can beat most opponents with its offense alone. It is second in the nation in scoring margin (+17.7 points per game) and third in scoring offense (82.5 ppg). The Blue Devils make 35.4 percent of their three-point tries as a team, ranking just above the national average.

Burly freshman Vernon Carey Jr. leads Duke with 17.8 points and 9.0 rebounds per game while shooting nearly 59 percent from the floor to lead the ACC. He is the nation's highest-rated player in the KenPom individual rankings and is the only player to rank in the ACC's top five in scoring, rebounding and field goal percentage.

Sophomore Tre Jones is another All-America candidate who's posting 15.2 points, 3.9 rebounds and an ACC-best 6.7 assists per contest. He's one of 10 candidates for the Bob Cousy Award, given to the nation's top point guard.

Athletic freshman Cassius Stanley scores 12 ppg for the season but has been at his best recently, averaging 14.4 points and shooting 52.7 percent in the last eight games.

A pair of lengthy wings lead the Blue Devils' outside shooting efforts. Matthew Hurt is fourth on the team with 10.9 points per game and hits 40 percent of his three-point attempts. Joey Baker normally comes off the bench, but he's shot even better—42.4 percent—from long range.

The Devils are lethal offensively every year, but this year's team defense is impressive as well.

Duke boasts the nation's fourth-best adjusted offensive efficiency at 117.2 in the KenPom.com rankings and the ninth-best adjusted defensive efficiency. Duke has played nine of the ACC's 15 leading scorers so far this season and held all but one under his season scoring average.

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