Duke Blue Devils Must Bounce Back Quickly to Stay in ACC Title Hunt

The state of Florida has not been kind to the Duke Blue Devils, after they suffered disappointing losses to Florida State and Miami over the last three weeks.

Mike Krzyzewski can only hope that his young team's recent woes are particular to the Sunshine State if he's to rope in his 13th ACC regular season title, beginning with a pivotal Tobacco Road clash with arch rival North Carolina on Wednesday.

The Blue Devils will be up against it when they set foot in the Dean Dome. They're fresh off a particularly disappointing loss to the lowly Hurricanes at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Star freshman Austin Rivers failed to deliver at the end of regulation and joined Seth Curry and Quinn Cook among a group of goats who practically gave the game away in overtime.

And by "gave away," I mean "missed all six free throws and hit just two shots in the extra period."

Of equal (if not greater) concern, though, is how the Devils were outrebounded by the 'Canes, however slightly (42 to 40), despite having big guys like Ryan Kelly, Josh Hairston and the Plumlee brothers on the floor.

All told, Duke ranks 104th in the NCAA in rebounding and 130th in assists—not a good sign for any team with designs on a deep run through March Madness.

Even worse for one going up against Carolina, who currently grades as the best rebounding team and the fourth-best ball-sharing team in the nation. That should come as little surprise, given the Tar Heels' tremendous size up front—with John Henson and Tyler Zeller, and even more imposing skill in the backcourt, on account of Harrison Barnes and Kendall Marshall.

Of course, the Tar Heels have had their own struggles with inconsistency (see: State, Florida, January 14th).

That being said, if the Blue Devils are to retake control of the rivalry this week—and keep pace in the race for the ACC crown—they'll need their young backcourt to do a better job of moving the ball. That means the Plumlee brothers rebounding against and neutralizing Zeller and Henson.

A tall order, to be sure, but if there's any team out there that knows full well how to beat UNC under any circumstances, it's Duke.

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