Duke Basketball: 3 keys for Blue Devils to take down Clemson Tigers
3. In another bright spot in Duke’s win over GT, senior Jordan Goldwire had a stellar showing – and the Blue Devils could use that moving forward
One of the biggest issues that has plagued Duke this season has been inconsistency. This has been touched on several times, but just to reinforce it: in Duke’s 11 games this season, Matthew Hurt has scored double-digits in every single outing. Meanwhile, at least six other Blue Devils have fluctuated between single- and double-digit showings.
One of those six is senior guard Jordan Goldwire, who has not necessarily made much noise in his four-year career with the Blue Devils – but did turn some heads on occasion during his junior campaign, where he found a spot in the starting five in 15 of Duke’s 31 games. This season, Goldwire has started in eight of Duke’s 11 tilts.
One of Goldwire’s biggest issues is scoring – or the lack thereof. He barely shot the ball last year – he took over five shots on in just nine games, and never took more than nine shots – but he did reach double-digits on five occasions. This year, he has been a little more willing to shoot the ball – and has been rewarded for it, tallying double-figures four times.
It is no coincidence that the Blue Devils are 8-1 in games where Goldwire scores double-figures, and his point total has been the difference-maker in five of those wins. Most recently, Goldwire’s production has been the difference in Duke’s last three wins over Boston College, Wake Forest, and Georgia Tech.
Goldwire’s biggest strength has been serving as a facilitator. He was second on the team last year in assists per game, averaging 2.3 – just behind NBA lottery pick Tre Jones – and he leads the team in that statistic this season with 3.8 per game, which is good for eighth in the conference. Additionally, he leads the ACC in assist/turnover ratio (+2.80) – with no greater example of his efficiency being in the last six games, where he has recorded 25 assists and just five turnovers.
He is coming off an 11-point (3-6 2PT, 1-1 3PT, 2-2 FT), five-rebound, seven-assist, two-steal game against Georgia Tech, in just his third game coming off the bench this year. That could bode extremely well for the Blue Devils against Clemson, especially considering Goldwire scored just 10 points combined during Duke’s three-game losing streak.
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Again, this game is huge for the Blue Devils. They are on the wrong side of the bubble – and then some – and will need to do substantial work in order to place themselves back into the NCAA Tournament picture. The win over Georgia Tech is not necessarily noteworthy, but it could be the start in righting the ship – and a win over Clemson would be a substantial step in the right direction.