#22 Duke Blue Devils (5-3, 0-1 ACC) vs. Charlotte (5-3, 0-0 AAC)

Overall Duke leads, 6-1
In Durham, NC Duke leads, 3-0
at Cameron Indoor Stadium Duke leads, 3-0
In Charlotte, NC —
at Halton Arena —
Unknown Venue Duke leads, 3-1
Last Meeting Duke, 101-59 (Nov. 17, 2009)

Stream The CW
Play-by-Play Tom Werme
Analyst Mike Gminski
Producer Ken Neal

Radio Blue Devil Sports Net.
Play-by-Play David Shumate
Analyst John Roth
Engineer John Rose
In Durham 96.5 FM & 620 AM
SiriusXM 137 or 194

The 49ers of Charlotte boast four double-figure scorers led by Lu’Cye Patterson at 14.9 points per game. Igor Milicic leads the 49ers in rebounds at 9.4 per game to go along with his 13.3 points. Dishon Jackson and Nik Graves are averaging 10.5 and 10 points per game respectively. Graves leads Charlotte in assists per game at 3.5 per contest.

Charlotte is fresh off of an 85-62 route of stetson, where guard Dishon Jackson scored a career high 19 points in the win going 8-12 from the field. The 49ers put the game out of reach using a 21-2 run, and later a 21-0 run.

Duke returns home on Saturday to host Charlotte after back-to-back road games last week. Duke is coming off a 72-68 loss at Georgia Tech in the ACC opener on Dec. 2. Jeremy Roach led Duke’s efforts against Georgia Tech with 20 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Among ACC leaders, Kyle Filipowski ranks sixth in scoring (18.9 ppg), fifth in rebounding (8.4 rpg), eighth in blocked shots (1.9 bpg) and eighth in field goal percentage (.529). He leads the Blue Devils in scoring and rebounding. Jeremy Roach checks in at 13.9 points per game and 2l8 assists. Tyrese Proctor who will miss Saturdays game is averaging 10.3 points and 4.5 assists per game. Mark Mitchell rounds out the double figure scores for Duke at 11 per game.

Duke ranks fifth nationally in fewest turnovers per game (8.6), sixth in turnover percentage (12.4%) and ninth in assist/turnover ratio (1.86).

G Jeremy Roach 6’2, 180lbs SR
G Caleb Foster 6’5, 197lbs FR
G Jared McCain 6’3, 197lbs FR
F Mark Mitchell  6’9, 232lbs SO
C Kyle Filipowski 7’0, 248lbs SO

G Lu’Cye Patterson 6’2, 205lbs RSJR
G Nik Graves 6’3, 185lbs SO
G Jackson Threadgill 6’6, 200lbs SR
F Igor Milicic Jr. 6’10, 225lbs JR
C Dishon Jackson 6’11, 260lbs RSSO

Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, they will be absent their leading assist man in Tyrese Proctor and minus his 10 points a game. Proctor sprained an ankle early in Duke’s loss to Georgia Tech. Duke has struggled to solidify an identity on either end of the floor. Offensively the Blue Devils have struggled with their shooting and teams have recognized that and played them thusly. Ball movement has been an issue along with finishing at the rim. The Blue Devils have put together spurts of fantastic play but their margin for error is little to none and while they have yet to be blown out they have not been able to cobble together 2 good halves of basketball.

Defensively Duke has also struggled to defend their paint but also have seemed to be an elixir for poor shooting teams to get off the schneid. Duke has suffered from what appears to be both a lack of cohesion, emotion and leadership. It’s difficult to say what the Blue Devils will look like after a week off and down a starter but a win at this point is crucial.

Charlotte ranks 16th in the nation in free throw percentage (78.1%) and 19th in scoring defense (61.9 points allowed per game). The 49ers are 306th in scoring and 336th in rebounding so there is an opportunity for the Blue Devils to get their collective act together. If the rumors of locker room issues are true then this game will go a long way toward answering those questions or confirming the reports.