Duke is set to travel to Pittsburgh to take on Jeff Capel and the Panthers Tuesday night. Duke will be looking for their second road win in four days.
Pittsburgh enters at 10-5 overall and 1-3 in the ACC. This game represents Pittsburgh’s second opportunity to take down a ranked team at home – they fell to UNC in their first opportunity last Tuesday.
What to watch for:
Rebounding battle
Pittsburgh is an excellent rebounding team. They rank 21st in the country in offensive rebounds per game at 11.6 and 18th in the country in defensive rebounds per game at 27.1. Duke must ensure they are boxing out every time a shot goes up or Pittsburgh will make them pay.
Can Duke force Pittsburgh turnovers?
Another strength for this Pittsburgh team is taking care of the ball. They rank 26th in the country in turnovers per game at just 9.9. How often Duke can force Pittsburgh into turnovers will be something to monitor.
Running Pittsburgh off of three point line
Pittsburgh prefers to fire up three point attempts at a high rate. Their 28.0 three point attempts per game is the 14th most in the country. Only 45.7% of their points come via two point field goal attempts which is 318th in the country. They are not effective inside the three point line offensively. Duke can take Pittsburgh out of their comfort zone by running them off the three point line and forcing Pittsburgh to beat them from inside.
Will Filipowski, Proctor bounce back?
Duke was able to win on the road Saturday despite arguably the worst game of the season for both Kyle Filipowski and Tyrese Proctor. How these two respond is key. The duo will need to better Tuesday night if Duke is going to make it back to back road wins.
Game info:
Where: Peterson Events Center, Pittsburgh
When: Tuesday at 9:00pm EST
Coverage: ESPN