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Duke Blue Devils vs. Brown Bears Preview

Saturday morning will feature a David versus Goliath matchup and Goliath will have the home-court advantage. The Duke Blue Devils (10-1) will take on the Ivy League Brown Bears (5-5) at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Brandon Anderson and Vernon Carey Jr. will be the featured players for each team. Now Duke is heavily favored, but can Brown pull a Stephen F. Austin and upset Duke at home? We will take a look at both teams and see what their keys to victory are.

Duke Blue Devils (10-1)

Project Starting Five

  • G – Tre Jones (15.6 points, 7.1 assists & 3.8 rebounds)
  • G – Cassius Stanley (10.7 points, 4.3 rebounds & 48% FG percent)
  • C – Vernon Carey Jr. (18.6 points, 9.3 rebounds & 2.2 blocks)
  • F – Matthew Hurt (10.6 points, 3.7 rebounds & 75% FT percent)
  • F – Jack White (3.3 points, 4.1 rebounds & 0.8 steals)

Keys To Victory

  1. Rebound Well: The Duke Blue Devils have been great defensively and rebounding all year. They average over forty rebounds per game as a team and should be able to continue that tomorrow against Brown. While they too average over forty rebounds, Duke will have the size advantage. Vernon needs to get some second-chance points for Duke in order to put this game away early.
  2. Contain Brandon Anderson: The Bears starting guard Brandon Anderson is a scoring machine. He averages 21 points per game, which is ranked nineteenth in points per game. Duke has done a solid job of containing teams best players. They did it with Cassius Winston at Michigan State and Udoka Azubuike as well against Kansas. Hold him under twenty and you have a great shot at victory.

Brown Bears (5-5)

Projected Starting Five

  • G – Brandon Anderson (21.0 points, 4.4 rebounds & 3.8 assists)
  • G – Zach Hunsaker (10.8 points, 3.6 rebounds & 1.3 steals)
  • F – Joshua Howard (7.5 points, 4.7 rebounds & 4.6% 3 point FG%)
  • F – Tamenang Choh (14.2 points, 8.3 rebounds & 3.1 assists)
  • F/C – Matt DeWolf (5.6 points, 4.2 rebounds & 81.8 FT%)

Keys To Victory

  1. Contain Vernon Carey Jr: The man has been an absolute monster for Duke in the past number of games. He is coming off twenty points and ten rebounds against Wofford and this team is undersized. If you can contain Vernon then you give yourself a chance. Force Javin DeLaurier and Matthew Hurt to beat you in the frontcourt.
  2. Hold Duke’s Bench In Check: I just stated force Javin and Matthew to beat you, but that is not who I am worried about. Joey Baker has been a shooting machine for Duke so far this year. He is shooting above fifty percent from three. Run him off the three-point line and you can prevent Duke from going on a run.

Prediction

Brown will come in as fierce underdogs in this game. While normally I would give the underdog a chance, I do not see them winning this game. Duke is the big and deeper team in this one. While Brandon Anderson is always a danger of catching fire, Tre Jones and Jordan Goldwire will give him fits. Duke should win this game comfortably before getting ready for Boston College on Monday.

Duke 92 Brown 57

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