Duke must turn page to Winthrop who already has road Top-25 victory

It’s time for the Duke Basketball team to turn the page to Friday night as the Blue Devils will host a good and experienced Winthrop team.

The 24 hours are up and there is no time to dwell on Tuesday night’s loss.

Yes, Duke inexplicably fell to the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks this week, but it’s time to turn the page and focus on the Winthrop Eagles, a team who already has a road victory over a Top-25 team this season.

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Winthrop opened the season with four straight road games, splitting those contests, but the all important win came on November 11 when the Eagles defeated then No. 18 Saint Mary’s, 61-59.

The only other win on the road trip came against Hartford as the Eagles fell to Fresno State and East Tennessee State by a combined five points.

Since returning home to play three games, Pat Kelsey‘s team has gone 2-1 with wins over Mid-Atlantic Christian University and Pfeiffer with the only blemish coming from a three point loss to Tennessee Tech.

While Winthrop has a major victory and already three losses on its resume in November, all three of those defeats were close, coming by a combined eight points.

The Eagles only have two players that average double-digit points but the team is deep with eleven players averaging at least ten minutes per game.

D.J. Burns and Josh Ferguson lead the way for Winthrop as Burns is a 6-foot-9 freshman that averages a team-high 12.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game, while shooting 62.1% from the floor.

Ferguson is listed at 6-foot-8 and the senior from Miami averages 11.7 points and a team-leading 6.7 rebounds per game on 45.7% shooting from the field and 32.4% shooting from 3-point range.

Like the Blue Devils, Winthrop also struggles from the free throw line, only shooting 57.4% from the charity stripe and the Eagles are not threats from the outside, only shooting 32.7% from 3-point range.

It goes without saying now, but it still has to be said. Duke cannot take any opponent lightly and with what should be an inferior team entering Cameron Indoor Stadium, the Blue Devils must shake its Thanksgiving hangover, find a way to release the tryptophan, and get back to playing Duke basketball on Friday night.

Tipoff between the Blue Devils and the Eagles is at 7:00pm EST and the game will be broadcasters on the ACC Network.

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