Friday the 3-0 Blue Devils take on the 1-1 Georgia State Panthers in Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Panthers routed Brewton-Parker College 104-35 before losing to the College of Charleston 84-80 in their second game. The Blue Devils are fresh off of a drubbing of Central Arkansas 105-54. Both teams have been defensive-minded in this early part of the season with each allowing less than 60.0 points per game, while the Blue Devils are forcing opponents to 22.3 turnovers per contest.
The Opponent:
The Panthers are led by a foursome of guards who are all averaging in double-digits in the early going of the season. Kane Williams leads the team in scoring at 13.5 points per game. Justin Roberts comes in at 13 per game and is coming off of a 22 point performance in a loss to College of Charleston. A game that saw them commit 19 turnovers and still have a chance to win. They gave up 27 points off of their turnovers for a deficit of 13 and had an edge in second chance points (they won the rebounding battle 40-28) by a margin of 16 to 10. You can do the math but a few less turnovers and they win that game.
The Panthers start one freshmen, their center Joe Jones III and they surround him with a ton of experience in a redshirt senior ( Damon Wilson ), a redshirt junior ( Corey Allen ), a redshirt sophomore ( Juston Roberts ) and a junior Kane Williams.
Their 4 guard lineup in 2 games is shooting 43% from 3-point range (26th so far nationally) and out rebounding their opponents 95-59 in 2 games.
Player to Watch:
Of their players with more than 2 attempts averaged per game, Nelson Phillips, Corey Allen and Kane Williams are shooting combined 52% from beyond the arc.
My Synopsis:
If you are into such things with the loss to Evansville by #1 ranked Kentucky, the Blue Devils have a chance to assume the #1 ranking for that it's worth when the new poll comes out. Moreover Duke has a chance to work more on lineups that work and substitution patters as the competition starts to become stiffer. It will be interesting to see if Duke goes with a strategy of putting out a lineup to impose their will size-wise on the Panthers or a lineup meant to combat what the Panthers do well. Either way the Blue Devils will need to defend the perimeter well against a hot shooting team. Duke should be able to force a good amount of turnovers but if the Panthers play as good as a team that starts 4 guards should play in terms of valuing the ball it should interesting to see if Duke's pressure actually pays off as it has been. I expect Duke to win handily but if the Panthers can hit shots and limit turnovers it could be closer than one might imagine. I don't see that happening.
Duke was much better offensively in their last outing and stringing together multiple games with positive offensive numbers would be a blessing for a team who has struggled shooting the ball from the outside early in the season.
