Notre Dame is a different team with a healthy Markus Burton. Since returning, after being injured in the Rutgers game back in November, Burton has worked himself back into the starting lineup. He’s scored 23 and 15 points in his 2 games back. I expect a hungry Notre Dame team on Sunday, especially after having lost 2 straight games by a single point. Duke will need to do what they have been doing – executing on the offensive end with efficiency and continue being the stingiest defense in the NCAA. Markus Burton is going to get his, the key for Duke is making him a volume shooter but a poor efficiency one. Forcing Notre Dame into tough 2-point shots off the dribble, making them operate in one on one situations late in the shot clock. Notre Dame has excellent shooters in Shrewsberry and Allocco, making sure to chase them off the line and not give them early looks that get them into a rhythm will be important.
From there, Duke needs to rebound the basketball on the defensive end. The Blue Devils, while not giving up a ton of second chance points, have been giving up a few too many second chance opportunities – when a defense works as hard as Duke’s does, it’s important to pay it off by securing the possession for the offense.
Offensively, the Blue Devils still aren’t as good as they can be, often missing some opportunities for easy buckets by pre-determining their moves. The Blue Devils could very easily be the best team offensively in the nation if it cashed in their potential assists at a higher level. That doesn’t mean Duke’s offense isn’t top tier, but it goes to show that as good as they are, there are still levels to ascend to. Notre Dame provides a good opportunity to show and improve.
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