Louisville Basketball: 2019-20 keys to victory over Duke at Cameron

Louisville Basketball heads on the road to face the Duke Blue Devils at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Here is what the Louisville Cardinals need to do to get the win.

On Saturday night the two best records in the ACC face off in a huge January battle. #11 Louisville Basketball heads into Cameron Indoor Stadium to take on the #3 Duke Blue Devils. The Cardinals come in on a three-game winning streak with a record of 14-3, while Duke is coming off a loss to Clemson which was just their second loss of the season.

The Blue Devils had popped off nine straight wins before losing to the Tigers.  Duke has a record of 15-2 entering Saturday’s matchup.  Here are three keys to victory for the Louisville Cardinals to get a huge win at Cameron and take the front seat in the conference.

1.  Limit turnovers

Turnovers are never a good thing, however, when you are the road they become much worse.  Turnovers lead to runouts and easy baskets which can fuel a home crowd and no fan base gets more fueled by momentum than the Cameron Crazies.  Duke averages just under 10 steals per game, so taking care of the ball is a huge must if they want any chance of heading home a winner.  If you limit turnovers you can win a big stat line that the Blue Devils are really good and help keep the crowd to a minimum.

2.  Win the paint

Both teams entering the game average 40 rebounds per game.  Any time there are two really good teams who share success in a very important area of the game, you really want to be the team who wins it.  Winning the paint means winning the rebounding margin, not giving up fastbreak points off of misses or those previously mentioned turnovers, not giving up easy baskets, and a lot of times rebounding in the paint turns into 50/50 balls which you definitely want to win.  Many times winning the paint is pure effort.  Effort is something that should travel no matter what arena you play in.  Win the effort plays, win the paint.

3.  Team defense 

Sometimes when you head on the road in any sport and at any level it is hard for the offense to consistently travel.  Another part of the game that can travel is defense, every time, and it should.  This game is no different as good team defense can create your own turnovers and fast break points that can help in leading the charge to win the paint.

Good team defense can also make buckets that are made by Duke be difficult and time-consuming which later in the game matters as it can wear them down leading to more missed shots late in the game when it matters most.  The Cardinals only give up 61.6 points per game to their opponents.

Something is going to give as the Blue Devils averages 83.1 points per game and let’s be honest, it takes a team effort from everyone down to the last guy to beat Duke, let alone in their place.