Preview: #3 Duke Blue Devils (20-3, 12-1 ACC) vs. California Golden Bears (12-12, 5-8 ACC)

#3 Duke Blue Devils (20-3, 12-1 ACC) vs. California Golden Bears (12-12, 5-8 ACC)

Wednesday, Feb. 12 • 9 p.m. ET

Cameron Indoor Stadium (9,314) • Durham, N.C.

TV: ACC Network

Radio: Blue Devil Sports Network from LEARFIELD

The Duke Blue Devils return home, looking to rebound after a loss to Clemson, to face Mark Madsen’s Cal Bears.

TV/Video Stream ACC Network
Play-by-Play Wes Durham
Analyst Cory Alexander
Analyst Jim Boeheim
Producer Will Black
Director Chad Lampman

Radio Blue Devil Sports Network
Play-by-Play David Shumate
Analyst John Roth
Engineer John Rose
In Durham 96.5 FM & 620 AM
SiriusXM 84

Overall Tied, 2-2
In Durham, NC First meeting
at Cameron Indoor Stadium First meeting
In Berkeley, CA Duke trails, 0-1
at Haas Pavilion —
Neutral Sites Duke leads, 2-1
Last Meeting Duke 87, California 52 (Nov. 21, 2019 – New York, N.Y.)

Mark Madsen is in his second season as Cal head coach and has his team sitting at 12-12 overall and 5-8 in the ACC, good for tenth currently. Cal has won four of its last seven contests, and is coming off a 76-66 setback versus Wake Forest on Saturday. As a team, Cal tops the ACC in free throws made per game (17.4), which ranks 17th nationally, and offensive rebounds per game (13.4), good for 26th in the country.

Andrej Stojakovic, son of 13-year NBA player and three-time NBA All-Star Peja Stojakovic, leads four Golden Bears averaging double figures in scoring with 17.9 points per game (7th in ACC). Guard Jeremiah Wilkinson averages 13.8 points per game for the Bears. Jovan Bkacksjer rounds out the double figure scoring guards for the Bears while leading the team in assists at 2.4 per game Mady Sissoko, a graduate transfer from Michigan State, ranks ninth in the conference with 7.7 rebounds per game, including 2.9 boards on the offensive glass.

No. 3 Duke returns home for its first ACC meeting with California on Wednesday, Feb. 12, on the ACC Network. Tip off is scheduled for 9 p.m. The Blue Devils come in with a record of 20-3, with an ACC mark of 12-1. Duke is coming off of a loss to Clemson on the road, their first road and ACC loss of the season. The Blue Devils lead the country in scoring margin (+19.5) and rank sixth in the nation in scoring defense (60.5), seventh in field goal percentage defense (.385), ninth in assist-to-turnover ratio (+1.67), 15th in rebound margin (+7.6), 17th in effective field goal percentage (.566), 23rd in three-pointers per game (10.1) and 31st in assists per game (16.7) – all top marks in the ACC. Duke is the only team in the country ranked among the top-five in both offensive (5th) and defensive efficiency (4th), according to KenPom. Duke is the only Division I team to score 80 points or more per game (80.0) and hold its opponents to fewer than 61 points per game (60.5).

Cooper Flagg, who turned 18 years old on Dec. 21, tops Duke in points (448), rebounds (177), assists (92), steals (35) and blocked shots (29). Flagg ranks among the ACC’s top-10 in four of the five major statistical categories – scoring (3rd), rebounding (8th), assists (8th) and blocks (8th), and is 12th in steals. Tyrese Proctor has averaged 18.7 points in Duke’s last three games, while shooting 19-of-37 (.514) from the field, including 10-of-23 (.435) from three-point range. Freshman Kon Knueppel rounds out the double figure scorers for the Blue Devils, averaging 13.5 points per game and dishing 2.5 assists per contest. In the last six games, Sion James has distributed 23 assists to just three turnovers, a 7.7 assist-to-turnover ratio. Maliq Brown, who topped the ACC with 71 steals last season as a member of the Syracuse Orange, leads the Blue Devils with 112 deflections (8 vs. UNC; 9 at Syracuse; 9 at Clemson), an average of 6.2 per game, and is second on the squad with 30 steals.

PG Sion James 6’6, 220lbs – Grad Transfer
SG Tyrese Proctor 6’6, 183lbs – Junior
SF Kon Knueppel 6’7, 217lbs – Freshman
PF Cooper Flagg 6’9, 205lbs – Freshman
C Khaman Maluach 7’2, 250lbs – Freshman

G Jovan Blacksher 5’11, 165lbs – Grad Student
G Jeremiah Wilkinson 6’1, 185lbs – Freshman
G Andrej Stojakovic 6’7, 205lbs – Sophomore
F Rytis Potraitis 6’7, 210lb – Junior
C Mady Sissoko 6’9, 240lbs – Grad Student

For the Blue Devils the recipe for an easy victory is simple, coming off that loss to Clemson it was clear that sometimes a lot of talent can hide some flaws. Even as the tallest team in the conference Duke has struggled to rebound the basketball the last few games. It’s limited them and really showed against a good Clemson team. Sometimes there’s a middle ground between limiting fast break points, something which Duke has done fairly well, and rebounding the basketball on the offensive end. Duke has to figure that out and generate more opportunities as they aren’t a defense that generates a lot of turnovers.

Jon Scheyer mentioned that offensively this team is still learning what to do when the initial action is taken away. I believe some of the offensive lulls Duke has needed to address are due to those lessons taking some time to materialize. The staff mentioned needed to help them more, and I think that is the next evolution of this team.

Defensively, the Blue Devils haven’t been up to snuff lately and that is probably more concerning for the staff. Obviously not having the full complement of players coupled with the virus that seems to be making the rounds has had an effect, but there were several plays that have been atypical of this defense in the last couplf of game. The emphasis is probably going to be on that heading into the Cal game. Cal is a more perimeter oriented offense but not necessarily from 3-point range, they have 3 solid, talented guards. Stevanović in particular is supremely talented on the offensive end, he’s a streaky shooter but can get hot and finishes well due to his size. He also is a capable defender, underrated on that side of the basketball, he’s averaging just under a steal and 1.2 blocks per game. Their guards are not huge shooting number teams, as a team Cal is only at 31.6% overall and sub 30% in conference. That doesn’t mean they can’t get hot, Cameron, sometimes can give teams a bit of a bump offensively. Not allowing the Cal guards to get downhill will be paramount but still not giving up open looks. Most importantly as mentioned earlier, rebound the basketball.