Duke Basketball: 5 Questions for the game against South Dakota

The Duke Blue Devils take on the South Dakota Coyotes on Saturday afternoon at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Here are five questions for Coach K and Co. heading into the game.

Can the Blue Devils break down this defense?

South Dakota has one of the most underrated defenses in college basketball and could ride it to the NCAA Tournament and pull off an upset (or two).

The Coyotes are 7-2 with their losses both coming by two possessions or less to Northern Colorado (a one-point loss) and the TCU Horned Frogs on the road (a five-point loss). They have held five teams to under 60 points, as well as two others to under 63.

This defense is no joke and even far superior talented teams like Duke will find themselves struggling to pick it apart at first. It’s not stifling or relentless like a West Virginia, but their athleticism forces opposing teams to take bad shots – something that Duke has been known to take at points in the season so far.

This Blue Devils’ team has shown an affinity to go cold from the field for large amounts of time and then to suddenly explode in a massive point swing. One big point swing is all they might need to win this game, but will it be early on or will it be in the second half?

If they can break out early and hit a couple threes then this game could be over in the first half. However, if they find themselves going cold early, South Dakota could hang around and play even harder as their confidence grows.

But don’t expect that to happen, because it’s Duke.