On Saturday at 1:00 PM PT on ABC, Stanford men’s basketball will take on No. 3 Duke on the road at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Stanford comes in at 16-9 overall and 8-6 in the ACC while Duke comes in at 21-3 overall and 13-1 in the ACC.
Last time out: Stanford fell to Georgia Tech on the road on Wednesday by a final score of 60-52. Stanford guard Jaylen Blakes led the Cardinal with 12 points in his return from injury.
RECAP: Stanford MBB comes up short at Georgia Tech
On Duke: The Blue Devils are playing fantastic right now as their record indicates. Their three losses are to No. 15 Kentucky at a neutral site, No. 17 Kansas at a neutral site, and No. 23 Clemson on the road. Those are the rankings those teams all have as of this time. Kansas was actually ranked No. 1 when they beat Duke, but have fallen a good deal in the rankings.
The Blue Devils are led by freshman guard/forward Cooper Flagg, who is averaging 19.8 points & 7.6 rebounds per game on 48.3% shooting from the field, 37.0% shooting from 3-point range, and 81.4% shooting from the foul line. Freshman guard/forward Kon Knueppel (13.2 points) and junior guard Tyrese Proctor (11.8 points) are also scoring in double figures on average.
As a team, the Blue Devils average 80.0 points per game on 47.8% shooting from the field, 37.4% shooting from 3-point range, and 77.0% shooting from the foul line. They average 38.5 rebounds, 16.5 assists, 7.0 steals, 3.6 blocks, and 10.0 turnovers per game. They also average a +7.8 rebound margin and a +2.0 turnover margin per game. Their opponents average 60.4 points per game on 38.4% shooting from the field, 31.2% shooting from 3-point range, and 69.9% shooting from the foul line.
Keys to the game: For Stanford, the first thing they have to do is figure out how to contain Cooper Flagg. He’s the engine that makes this Duke team go. If he goes off, Duke will win big. If he has an off game, maybe Stanford makes this interesting. They have to defend him well and then just hope that he has a below average performance.
The second thing Stanford needs to do is they need Jaylen Blakes, Maxime Raynaud, and Oziyah Sellers to all score comfortably in double figures. I’m talking two of them need to be 20+ points and a third needs to be 15+ points. If that happens, they’ll have a shot. If not, it’s going to be a long day. Given that Jaylen Blakes is a former Blue Devil, getting his degree from Duke, Stanford has to hope he has the game of his life.
Finally, Stanford needs to hold their own on the glass. Duke is used to dominating teams inside. If Stanford rebounds well and keeps that close, that would help a lot.
Prediction: Smart money is on Duke to win by a final score of 80-62. They’re No. 3 in the nation for a reason and have the best player in the nation in Cooper Flagg. So, I’ll roll with that as my prediction. That said, I do think Stanford has an opportunity to make this competitive given the presence of Jaylen Blakes. You know he’s going to be fired up to face his former team. That’s an added element to this game that is hard to really quantify in terms of a prediction. But if Stanford does win, it’ll almost certainly be due to Jaylen Blakes playing like a man possessed by a Blue Devil.
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