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3 Things To Watch In Duke Blue Devils Vs. UNC Tar Heels

By Jacob Rude

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There is no rivalry in college basketball and few rivalries across the whole spectrum of sports as intense as the Duke Blue Devils and the North Carolina Tar Heels. Tonight, the rivalry will add another chapter as the two sides meet in Durham for their first match-up this season.

While you can certainly throw stats out of the window in any rivalry game, there are still some match-ups to focus on. Let’s take a look at three things to keep an eye on in tonight’s Tobacco Road showdown.

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1. The Start Of The Game

In any Duke home game, the biggest advantage for them is the home town fans, affectionately called the Cameron Crazies. The Blue Devils are fueled by their energy and often come out guns blazing. If the Tar Heels want a good start to the game, they need to contain Duke at the beginning of the contest.

If the likes of Quinn Cook, Tyus Jones, and Jahlil Okafor get off to hot starts and keep the crowd ignited, however, then North Carolina and Roy Williams are going to have an even bigger hill to climb. A raucous Blue Devils crowd serves the poitn of not only energizing the home crowd, but rattling the Tar Heels.

2. Backcourt vs. Backcourt

While the big name of the match-up is obviously Jahlil Okafor, it’s the backcourts that’ll likely have a bigger impact on this game. Of late, Duke’s backcourt of Jones and Cook have been red hot. Two games again against Florida State, Cook went off for 26 points and led the Blue Devils to a victory. In that same game, Jones had a season high 12 assists.

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    • Meanwhile, UNC sports a nice backcourt of their own with pre-season All-American Marcus Paige. Paige has been disappointing this season overall, but still has the ability to be a game-changer. He has the experience of playing in previous Duke-UNC match-ups and will be a handful for the Blue Devils.

    Whoever wins the battle of the backcourts will have a big upper hand in gaining victory tonight.

    3. Duke Blue Devils’ foul trouble

    It’s been well-documented that the Blue Devils are incredibly thin with the dismissal of Rasheed Sulaimon. Even with Sulaimon, Duke had potential issues down low if Okafor got into foul trouble. While Marshall Plumlee is seven feet tall, he’s not much more than that. He’s a serviceable back-up, but could be out of his depth with Okafor in potential foul trouble.

    Really, across the board, if Duke gets into foul trouble, there could be issues. With only eight scholarship players, there’s not a lot of depth. If UNC can force the issue, get to the rim, and draw fouls, they could get the Blue Devils in foul trouble and, as a byproduct, take the fans out of the game.

    Prediction:

    The Blue Devils have too much and, at home, I can’t imagine them losing tonight. Duke 87, UNC 76.

    Next: Seton Hall's Struggles: What Went Wrong?

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