Duke vs. Kansas: Austin Rivers Will Ensure Duke Stays Unblemished in Maui

Duke's Austin Rivers is going to break down and takeout the Kansas Jayhawks.

True freshman Rivers has shown that he will not need an adjustment period to get his game up to speed for big-time college basketball. He has stepped right in and been outstanding.

Rivers is Duke's second leading scorer at 15.2 points per game.

He has played just six games with Duke. In only one of those games has he scored less than 15 points. That was a five-point effort against Michigan State in his third game.

In the three games since, he has increased his scoring in each contest. He has gone for 17, 18, 20 points in his last three.

Rivers has combined with backcourt mate Seth Curry to give Duke a deadly offense—an offense that will be too much for Kansas to handle.

Matchup vs. Kansas

Since their opening season 100-54 win over the Towson Tigers, Kansas has not scored more than 72 points. Meanwhile, Duke has not scored less then 74 points in any game this season.

Duke has firepower that Kansas can't match and don't have the players to stop.

Kansas dominated UCLA 72-56 to reach the Maui finals, but that is a down UCLA squad. They are just 1-3 on the season and are struggling. And what was concerning for Kansas in that loss was the 29 points scored by Tyler Lamb and Jerime Anderson.

Lamb and Anderson combined to go 9-15 from the field.

Conclusion

Kansas struggled to contain Lamb and Anderson. They are going to get downright shredded by Rivers and Curry.

This explosive backcourt duo will touch Kansas up for 40 combined points. Expect Rivers to set a new career high, as he will better the 20 he scored against Michigan.

This will lead to Duke's fifth Maui Invitational Championship in five tournament appearances. And it will lead to the hype meter raising even higher for Rivers.