Duke Basketball: 3 Things That Must Happen for Blue Devils to Beat UNC

The Duke Blue Devils have a golden opportunity to take bragging rights on their Tobacco Road rivals with a win on Saturday, completing a sweep. If they are going to do that, every one of these things must happen.

If not, the two schools will be right back at square one heading into the postseason. If they do, then the Blue Devils will have a ridiculous amount of confidence at the absolute right time of the year.

Austin Rivers: 25 or more points

Okay, so we all know about Austin Rivers' last three points from the previous meeting between the two. 

But somewhat lost in that is that he had a fantastic game, start to finish. As a matter of fact, if that shot had missed, Duke would have lost, but Rivers still would have been the game's leading scorer. 

Playing at home, Rivers won't need to be that prolific, but he will need to be good. Duke's real edge in this game is on the perimeter, as they will shoot better than the Tar Heels any day of the week. If the game gets into the paint, the Blue Devils have no chance. 

Rivers is hands down Duke's best outside player. If he doesn't have a hot day, the Blue Devils will need to rely too much on streaky players. That is a recipe for disaster against a team like UNC, even at Cameron. 

Ryan Kelly: 15 or more points

One of the aforementioned streaky shooters is Kelly, and Duke will need another good day from him. To achieve this, he will need to shoot better from behind the arc, as he was 1-of-7 in the previous meeting. 

The percentage isn't particularly troubling, but he has to make more than one three-pointer; that is a must. 

Rivers will undeniably get a lot of attention from UNC defenders. One of the men to benefit from that will be Kelly, who will be parked out on the wing. If he gets hot and gets to 15 (which he had in the first game), Duke will be in great shape. If not, they will have to go inside for secondary scoring, which is a losing idea. 

Jump Them Early

If Tyler Zeller doesn't remember his collapse at the end of the previous meeting, there is a group of people in Krzyzewskiville right now that will be sure he gets brought up to speed.

The Cameron Crazies are some of the wildest, most creative fans in all of sports. They get into the heads of Duke's opponents and considering UNC lost the last game because of multiple mental mistakes, they crowd will be extra wild early. 

It is on Duke to be sure that they stay that way. Get out to a big lead, get the Crazies into the game and let the doubt creep back into the minds of the Tar Heels. If North Carolina builds confidence early, it will be a rough game for Duke. If they're not given a reason to get that confidence up, Duke will reign. 

Prediction: Duke 81, UNC 77

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