By ,
Published May 02, 2016
Durham, NC (SportsNetwork.com) - Coming off their first loss of the season, the fourth-ranked Duke Blue Devils will attempt to turn things around, as they play host to the Miami Hurricanes in an ACC clash at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Tuesday night.
Mike Krzyzewski's Blue Devils opened the season with 14 straight victories and looked dominant in just about every game they played. However, the streak came to an end over the weekend with a stunning 87-75 loss at NC State. With the setback, Coach K remains three wins shy of reaching 1,000 for his career. Duke returns home in this one though, where the team sports the nation's longest homecourt winning streak at 41 games.
Jim Larranaga's Hurricanes are a solid 11-4 on the year, but after starting the season 8-0, the team has gone just 3-4 since. The Hurricanes were able to even their ACC record up at 1-1 though with Saturday's 60-56 win over Boston College.
Duke holds a 17-4 advantage in the all-time series with Miami. The Blue Devils have won two straight meetings and hold an 8-1 series edge at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The Hurricanes were able to hold off the Eagles this past weekend and pick up their first league victory with a four-point decision at home. Tonye Jekiri was instrumental in the win, as the center recorded a double-double with 13 points and a career-high 15 rebounds. Miami, which shot .451 from the floor in the game, also received sizable offensive contributions from guards Angel Rodriguez and Sheldon McClellan. Rodriguez topped the team with 17 points, while McClellan tacked on 11.
Miami is a solid defensive squad that limits foes to just 61.4 ppg on a mere .404 shooting effort. The team also holds slight edges in rebounding (+0.4) and turnovers (+1.1) margins. Offensively, the backcourt duo of McClellan and Rodriguez is one of the conference's top one-two punches. McClellan is shooting a strong .538 from the field this season and leads the team with 15.4 ppg. Rodriguez is a defensive force (team-high 31 steals), but also can fill up the basket with 14.6 ppg.
Duke has played solid defense most of the season, but that wasn't the case in Raleigh this past weekend, as NC State shot a sterling 55 percent from the floor to end the Blue Devils' unbeaten streak at 14 games. The usually explosive and efficient Blue Devils struggled to keep pace, shooting just .369 from the field, including a .259 effort from behind the arc (7-of-27). Despite the setback, freshman big man Jahlil Okafor remained on top of his game, posting a double-double with 23 points and 12 rebounds. Senior guard Quinn Cook added 18 points to the cause, while Rasheed Sulaimon and Justise Winslow chipped in with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Duke remains one of the most explosive teams in the country, averaging an ACC- best 83.8 ppg and doing so on just over 50-percent shooting (.507). Okafor has certainly lived up to the hype. The 7-foot youngster leads the entire country in field-goal percentage (.684) and paces the ACC in scoring (19.2 ppg) and ranks third in rebounding (9.1 rpg). Cook and the freshman Winslow add scoring depth with 14.6 and 12.5 ppg, respectively. Yet another freshman, point guard Tyus Jones (9.6 ppg, 5.1 apg) plays a huge role as well. The youngster ranks third in the ACC in assists/turnover ratio at 3.3.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/hurricanes-hoping-to-blow-past-fourth-ranked-blue-devils