Duke Basketball: 3 keys to beating ACC threat Pittsburgh Panthers
3. Play less of Dereck Lively, and more of Ryan Young
While Roach is likely out for Duke, so will John Hugley for Pittsburgh. He led the Panthers in points and rebounds a year ago but has struggled to get going this season, recovering from a knee injury in the preseason. The good news for Pittsburgh is that Hinson has been a great transfer pickup in the frontcourt, while JUCO transfer Federiko Federiko has been a good defensive anchor at center.
What Federiko isn’t much of, is an offensive threat, averaging 5.8 ppg and 5.4 rpg and never getting post touches in a half-court offense. And the backups off the bench in the frontcourt are true freshmen, Jorge and Guillermo Diaz Graham who are tall but very slim and can get bodied in the paint. That can work well for Duke, who has a number of bigs that can take advantage.
One of them who isn’t is Lively, the former top-5 overall freshman prospect that has played limited minutes this season, just around 12 mpg. He came off the bench against Boston College and a case should be made that he shouldn’t play much in this one outside of spot minutes. He’s not an offensive threat himself and while a good defender, doesn’t matter against Federiko.
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Who can do well is Young, who is a big body and capable post-scorer. He and Kyle Filpowski can get Federiko and Hinson in foul trouble and the Panthers don’t have much depth behind them. Even Mark Mitchell can cause Hinson problems on the defensive end. Duke has a big advantage inside, even without much from Lively, and should focus on that in case the guards struggle.