Duke basketball must keep run alive for NCAA Tournament hopes

Duke basketball Key to Victory No. 2 – Defend the 3-Point Line

Defense will be the theme throughout this game preview as Duke has to be able to run Florida State off the 3-point line on Thursday night.

The gameplan shifts dramatically from Wednesday where the Blue Devils wanted Louisville to beat them from beyond the arc because of how poor of a shooting team the Cardinals are.

Florida State is a much more prolific team from downtown, shooting 38.5-percent as a team, but its best player, MJ Walker, is a 44.1-percent shooter from three-point range.

Junior guard Anthony Polite is a 45.0-percent shooter from deep, and Leonard Hamilton has the players to work inside and outside to try and gash the sometimes inconsistent Duke defense.

It’ll come down to communication on ball-screens, something the Blue Devils did a great job of on Wednesday, and forcing double-teams on shooters to try and force them to pass the ball rather than take an open jump shot.