Texas Tech Basketball: 3 keys to beating Duke in Sweet 16 matchup

2. Shut down Jeremy Roach

Duke has plenty of weapons at its disposal against Texas Tech. One that may not be getting enough attention if Jeremy Roach, who has been solid this postseason.

Roach has shown a renewed drive during the NCAA Tournament as he’s been reinserted into the starting lineup. The sophomore guard scored 12 points against Cal State Fullerton and 15 points against Michigan State, matching his second-best scoring output of the entire season.

He looked particularly good against the Spartans, hitting 60 percent of his field-goal attempts – it matched a November game for his best shooting percentage on at least ten shots for the season. He’s also been aces from the free throw line, hitting all seven of his attempts during the Big Dance.

Roach is not Duke’s biggest threat, but he is becoming a not-so-secret weapon for the program. His aggressive drive towards the hoops opens up the spacing for Duke’s shooters, giving defenses fits about how to defend the Blue Devils.

Obviously, if the Red Raiders can crash hard on Banchero or Mark Williams or Trevor Keels, that’s great – they should do that. In the absence of doing the difficult, however, the team should still focus on defending a player who could prove to be an X-factor on Thursday.