Texas Tech Basketball: 3 biggest keys for the Red Raiders to beat Duke
By Brian Rauf
1) Make it a half-court game
This is the biggest key to the game but might be the toughest to actually execute.
The game represents a typical contrast of styles. The Red Raiders rank 264th in the country in tempo as they prefer to utilize a more methodical, half-court style of play, while the Blue Devils rank 19th in tempo. Duke wants to get up-and-down the court on the break whenever they can, where they can take advantage of their size and athleticism.
Winning this battle of tempo is more important than simply getting Duke to play their way, however – the Blue Devils have actually struggled when forced to execute in the half-court this year.
Duke has struggled in stretches against the likes of Army, Hartford, Yale, and Princeton because those teams were able to slow the game down and make Duke a half-court team in those stretches. They don’t yet execute their offensive sets at a high level and there are some holes in their defense, both of which are expected of teams as young as the Blue Devils but have been a weakness.
Eventually, Duke’s superior talent advantage won out and they were able to turn those games into blowouts – but that wasn’t without all four being uncomfortably close for roughly 20 minutes.
Duke still holds the talent advantage over Texas Tech, but that gap isn’t nearly as big as you think it is – and definitely not as it was against those mid-majors. If the Red Raiders can make the Blue Devils play slow, they have the ability to make them pay.