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Former basketball No. 1’s meet as Duke tries to respond against Louisville

By Kevin Connelly

Duke basketball sophomore point guard Tre Jones (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
Duke basketball sophomore point guard Tre Jones (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /
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Two former No. 1’s will meet in Durham on Saturday night as the Duke basketball team will host the Louisville Cardinals in an ACC showdown.

Both teams held the No. 1 ranking at some point in the season. Both teams have experienced tough losses. Both teams will be on Coach K Court inside Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday night.

The No. 3 Duke Blue Devils and No. 11 Louisville Cardinals will go head-to-head in a battle for ACC supremacy as Duke looks to get back on track from its loss against Clemson and Louisville tries to build off its three-game winning streak.

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Duke was without both Wendell Moore (broken hand) and Joey Baker (ankle) against Clemson but while Moore will remain out against the Cards, Baker is expected to return to action on Saturday.

The Blue Devils defense was borderline horrific against the Tigers and that will need to be much better with Louisville coming to town and having the ACC’s leading scorer in Jordan Nwora paving the way.

Since Mike Krzyzewski has been bringing Jack White off the bench for the majority of the season, it’s reasonable to expect Coach K to either have the senior start in place of Matthew Hurt to try and guard the Cards leading scorer or have Cassius Stanley or Jordan Goldwire start off on Nwora and continue to bring White off the bench.

Offensively, Duke will continue to work through Tre Jones, Vernon Carey Jr., and Stanley, although a scoring punch from Hurt and Baker would be very beneficial for the Blue Devils pulling out a win on Saturday.

ALSO READ: Duke expected to get major boost on Saturday evening

ESPN’s College GameDay will be broadcasting live from Cameron Indoor Stadium starting at 11:00am EST and Duke will honor its 2010 National Championship team during GameDay and at halftime tomorrow evening.

In order to win, Duke will have to get back to its defensive roots in which the Blue Devils have hung their hat all season long, and that will be a tall test against Louisville.

Tipoff is scheduled between the Blue Devils and the Cardinals for 6:00pm EST on ESPN.

PREDICTION: Duke 75, Louisville 67

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