Gonzaga Basketball: 3 keys for Bulldogs to beat No. 5 Duke Blue Devils

1. Lockdown the paint

This Duke frontcourt is the most athletic that the Zags will have faced all season. Banchero’s size, speed, and ball-handling skills make him one of the highest-rated prospects in the recent years of the NBA draft. The penetration that the wings create also helps create havoc at the rim. However, Duke has not attacked the rim against an enforcer to the magnitude of Holmgren.

The Blue Devils will try to cause havoc off the pick-and-roll, hoping to make things difficult for Drew Timme, a big who has improved his defense from last year but is still not known for his light-footedness. It’s a tactic that many thought UCLA would try to exploit in their Tuesday night matchup, but the Bruins were missing Codey Riley, their sole scoring threat post player.

When they did try to put Timme in awkward defensive spots, the Bulldogs’ approach was to aggressively hedge the ball screen, forcing the ball to the less potent big man Myles Johnson rather than the more adept Johnny Juzang, Jules Bernard, Jaime Jacquez Jr., or Tyger Campbell. The issue with the approach is that Duke’s bigs may be too fast for the recovery and help-defense that Gonzaga showcased against UCLA.

If the Zags can limit Duke’s ability to score at the cup, the Blue Devils will have to score without their greatest strength. They shoot 60% from inside the arc and just 33% from outside, with no one averaging 13 minutes or more shooting above that team average themselves.