Brown vs. Duke: 2019-20 college basketball game preview, TV schedule

Brown travels to Cameron Indoor Stadium to take on the star-studded Duke Blue Devils. Let’s take a look at the matchup between Brown and Duke.

TV Schedule: Saturday, December 28, 2019 / 11:30AM EST / ESPN2

Location: Cameron Indoor Stadium in Raleigh, North Carolina

As teams begin to come out of the winter hibernation period of Christmas week, Duke will try to shake out of their winter sleep schedule against Brown at Cameron Indoor Stadium. No. 4 Duke will face off against middling Brown in a tune-up before conference play accelerates.

Tre Jones, the catalyst of the Blue Devils offense, missed Duke’s pre-Christmas break game against Wofford with a minor foot injury. The injury comes at the best possible time for Duke and Coach K because Jones will have an extra week to rest his injury before a full slate of conference games starts for Duke. Although Duke stated Tre Jones could have played if the game was more important, this injury is still worth keeping an eye on for the remainder of the season.

Unfortunately, Brown is in the bottom third of college basketball teams this year. They have been atrocious on the road with one win in five tries. Their singular win was at Bryant and the Bears only won by two. Brown will have a lot to overcome in North Carolina and they know it.

First and foremost, Brown will have to try to extinguish the red hot Vernon Carey, Jr. The freshman stands at 6’10”, taller than any member of the Brown Bears basketball team. Carey, Jr. is the most efficient player in college basketball according to College Basketball Reference’s Player Efficiency Rating. Further, Carey, Jr. leads the ACC with a 61% field goal percentage. The center also blocks an average of 2.2 shots per game while pulling in 9.3 rebounds per game.

Coach K has a 10-man rotation and we could see the bottom half of the rotation more against Brown. The Duke Blue Devils will usually start Tre Jones, Cassius Stanley, Vernon Carey Jr., Wendell Moore Jr., and Matthew Hurt. Jack White is usually the first off of the bench for the Blue Devils followed by Jordan Goldwire, Alex O’Connell, Javin DeLaurier and Joey Baker – all averaging at least 13.6 minutes per game. This game against Brown will serve as an experience builder for some of the less experienced Blue Devil players as they begin their spring to March Madness.

Brown has no chance in this game unless the Duke Blue Devils are hit by a plague of influenza which decimates the whole team. Brown does not have the height, athleticism, or talent to hang with Duke. We can expect to see a heavy dose of Vernon Carey Jr. and Wendell Moore Jr. early. By feeding Carey Jr. and Moore Jr., the Blue Devils can not only assert dominance in the paint with their length and physicality, but it will allow them to develop an early, insurmountable lead.

Further evidence of a high probability of Duke coming out with a big lead is the Blue Devils are averaging 83.6 points per game compared to the Bears’ 69.5. On defense, Duke has only allowed 64.8 points per game and Brown has allowed 72.1 points per game. That lead will allow Coach K to rest his starters and to give his bench players some much needed, extended court time.

Prediction: Duke 82, Brown 61