Duke Basketball: Exciting Championship Game with Blue Devils and Zags

It’s the Championship Game everyone wanted as the Duke Basketball team will be facing off against the Gonzaga Bulldogs in the Maui Invitational.

If you are a college basketball fan, you got what you were hoping for.

The No. 1 Duke Blue Devils will go up against the No. 3 Gonzaga Bulldogs in the Championship Game of the Maui Invitational.

The Blue Devils have won five Maui Invitational Championships and have not lost a game in the history of the tournament while Gonzaga won the Championship in 2009.

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However, the contrast of styles will be evident as the Zags are a team filled with experience while the Blue Devils are young and have not been in a situation like this before, but there is no question about the talent level on either team.

Gonzaga will be without star Killian Tillie as he suffered a stress fracture in his foot days before the start of the season and will miss at least the entirety of Gonzaga’s non-conference schedule.

However, Head Coach Mark Few‘s bunch will not make excuses and are in very good hands with the stars like Josh Perkins, Rui Hachimura, Zach Norvell Jr., and Brandon Clarke, who can explode anytime they are on the floor.

The Zags have been in battles in both games of the Maui Invitational with a hot start in their first game against Illinois but a less than stellar second half and a horrid first half against Arizona, but a monster second half to get them into the Championship Game.

As for the Blue Devils, they ran away from San Diego State and went wire to wire against the No. 8 Auburn Tigers, but the Tigers gave the Blue Devils a bit of a scare, cutting the Duke lead down to five late in the second half.

The Blue Devils have not been able to stay out of foul trouble in the first two games in Maui and that could prove to be hurtful if they once again get into foul trouble against Gonzaga.

There clearly are some big time matchups in this game, but perhaps the biggest will be Tre Jones vs. Josh Perkins as Perkins can provide some problems for the freshman due to his experience.

Jones played well against Auburn’s Jared Harper, despite Harper scoring 22 points and making six of ten shots from three point range, but Jones will have to be able to defend Perkins both on and off the dribble as he has the ability to score for himself and generate offense for his teammates.

Duke is going to have to generate more offense with their ball movement.

At times against Auburn they looked stagnant and had too much one on one play and that is when Auburn got on their runs and tried to get back into the game.

If the Blue Devils can spread the Zags out and create driving lanes for R.J. Barrett, Zion Williamson, and Cam Reddish, Duke will be able to have much more consistent success on the offensive end of the floor.

Defensively, the Blue Devils looked tired and young against Auburn. The Tigers did catch fire and it felt like they just couldn’t miss, but if you watch Gonzaga’s second half against Arizona, the Zags have a team that is filled with shooters and after scoring 54 points in 20 minutes, the Blue Devils must be wary of Gonzaga.

This will be the biggest and most difficult test of the season for both teams, third game in three days against a Final Four caliber opponent.

Which ever team is able to stay out of foul trouble and take advantage of turnovers will win this game.

If Gonzaga had Killian Tille maybe this game could go another way, but without them the Blue Devils should get it done, and Gonzaga fans chanting “We Want Duke” at the end of the Arizona game will give the Blue Devils some extra motivation.

PREDICTION: Duke 93, Gonzaga 85

Stay tuned to Ball Durham at our Twitter, @Ball_Durham, and here at our website, balldurham.com, for complete coverage of the Duke Blue Devils vs. the Gonzaga Bulldogs.

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