Duke Spotlight: December Games Away from Cameron Indoor Stadium

The Duke Blue Devils (No. 7 AP, No. 5 ESPN/USA Today) have six wins on the young college basketball season. Already, Duke has earned the 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches versus Cancer tournament title.

Next on the schedule is Duquesne. The game can be seen at 3:00 p.m. EST on ESPN. The Dukes are currently 4-0 with two road wins, and they are averaging about 83 points per game. Despite Duquesne's scoring ability on offense, Duke should win on Sunday based on the strength of its on-ball pressure defense.

Moving on, Duke faces three significant road tests during the month of December. The challenges in order are Purdue, Michigan, and Xavier (in East Rutherford, N.J.). The Blue Devils have yet to play a true road game this season, and they should expect three unique obstacles from each opponent.

As part of the 10th annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge, Duke travels to West Lafayette on Tuesday, Dec. 2 for a showdown against Purdue (No. 10 AP, No. 9 ESPN/USA Today). Matt Painter's club will have five games under its belt heading into the Duke game, with Boston College being Purdue's only significant opponent.

Purdue is expected to finish at or near the top of the Big Ten conference this season. After its surprisingly successful campaign last season, expectations are high. The Boilermakers return all five starters, some of whom earned notable accolades in the Big Ten as a result of their performances last year.

Reigning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Chris Kramer is averaging 2.5 steals per game in just over 20 minutes per game. Though he doesn't contribute in a significant way on offense, his defensive value is too great to leave on the bench.

Sophomore forward Robbie Hummel also returns and is leading the Purdue squad in scoring this season at over 16 points per game. In many ways Hummel compares to fellow sophomore and Duke forward Kyle Singler. Both are very versatile and are definitively each team's go-to scorer.

Painter is a great coach. Last season, he led the Boilermakers to 25 wins, the most since 1996 and more than the 2000 Elite Eight team.

In terms of the game, this will be a tremendous showcase of man-to-man defense. While Duke is traditionally one of the best in the country, Purdue ranked eighth nationally a season ago in terms of opponents' possessions that ended in turnovers (25.5).

Purdue shoots the ball extremely well, especially from three-point range, not to mention the frontcourt is very solid and should be able to pose a challenge to Duke's big men.

This game should be quite a test for Duke. The Purdue faithful are likely to be amped for this one. Come March Madness, expect these two teams to end up as No. 2 seeds in the NCAA tournament.

On Saturday, Dec. 6, Duke has a rematch with Michigan in Ann Arbor. In the championship game of the 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches versus Cancer, the Blue Devils beat Michigan fairly convincingly, 71-56.

In that game, Michigan forced Duke to commit 17 turnovers and convert on just four of 19 three-point attempts. The difference, however, was Duke's stifling man-to-man defense, which allowed Michigan to shoot just 35.2 percent from the field.

Michigan coach John Beilein is a veteran in college basketball. He will do whatever it takes to prepare his team to upend Duke.

One glaring observation from the championship game was that Duke dominated in terms of rebounding on the defensive end. Nearly every possession, Duke limited Michigan to one-shot-and-out.

A key for the upcoming matchup will be Michigan's ability to be more selective on offense. This will allow them to have guys in position to grab offensive rebounds and, in some cases, score on second-chance points. This will also slow the effects of Duke's tremendous transition game.

Michigan guard Manny Harris has been a stud thus far this season. The sophomore guard is averaging 24.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game. Perhaps Duke should isolate its focus on shutting down Harris, which will likely disrupt the flow of the Wolverine offense.

Duke has already proven it can beat Michigan. The Blue Devils need to be faithful to their gameplan, and the rest should fall into place. Though Michigan has improved from last year to this season, it might still be a long way from knocking off Duke.

The third and final December "road" game for Duke is against Xavier. This one will be played in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The Musketeers beat Purdue last season in the NCAA tournament under head coach Sean Miller. Currently, Xavier is No. 16 in the AP poll and No. 20 in the ESPN/USA Today poll.

The Musketeers catapulted into the rankings after impressive wins over Virginia Tech and Memphis. Though this club is no stranger to 20-win seasons and the NCAA tournament, Xavier lost a lot of production from last year's team. But it appears as if they've simply reloaded.

Like Duke, Xavier is a great defensive team. Right now the Musketeers are allowing just 59.8 points per game. Offensively, the team has three players averaging double-digit points per game.

One of them is guard/forward C.J. Anderson. The redshirt senior is averaging just over 10 points and five rebounds per game, but his problem is that he is very turnover-prone and a poor free throw shooter. After five games, Anderson has an assist-to-turnover ratio of .47-to-1 while shooting just 54.5 percent from the foul line.

What's troubling for Xavier fans is that as his career has progressed, he's committed more turnovers and fewer assists per season. In a game versus a team like Duke, this will be quite problematic. The Blue Devils feast on guys who turn over the ball, which creates offense for Duke in the transition game.

Anderson and his teammates will need to ensure they are careful with the basketball and that they are precise in executing their offensive sets. Xavier doesn't have the type of scorers needed to mount a comeback should they fall behind early.

This series of games away from Cameron Indoor Stadium will be Duke's litmus test prior to conference play.

Should they take care of business in these matchups, expect the Blue Devils to be right at the top of the ACC standings. North Carolina is the only team that looks better on paper than Duke in the entire ACC. Purdue projects to be a better overall team than the handful of teams behind Duke talent-wise.

The month of December breeds great college basketball, especially with the start of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Let's gear up for some great hardwood matchups as we begin the marathon that is college hoops.