The Duke Blue Devils head down to Coral Gables on Monday night to take on a very good Miami team in an ACC battle. Duke comes into the game at 15-5 (4-3) and ranked 24th in the nation while Miami comes into the game at 15-3 (4-2) and ranked 15th in the nation.
Duke has struggled recently as they had a stretch where they lost three straight games to unranked opponents. The Blue Devils ended that streak on Saturday when they won on the road at NC State. The win over the Wolfpack prevented Duke from losing four straight games to unranked opponents for the first time ever. Duke will look to gain some momentum in Miami on Monday.
Duke's biggest issues have been rebounding and lack of depth as they are still without Amile Jefferson. Jefferson has missed the last 10 games with a broken foot but fortunately Duke has one of the best 1-2 punches in the nation to help them stay above water. Grayson Allen has been great all season but Brandon Ingram has picked up his play recently and is proving to be one of the top freshman in the nation.
Ingram started off the season slowly but he has come on recently and his numbers are gaudy. Ingram's 17.1 points per game are second on the team, to Allen, and he also leads the team with his 42 percent shooting clip from three point range. In Saturday's win against NC State the 6-foot-9 forward had 25 points and seven rebounds and will look to continue his personal momentum.
Miami too has struggled a little bit in ACC play as they recently had a two game losing streak before winning their last two games against ACC bottom feeders. Miami only suffered one loss in the non-conference schedule but they are looking to get their best win in the ACC so far this season on Monday night.
The Hurricanes best player and leading scorer is Sheldon McClellan who averages 16 points per game. McClellan has been incredibly efficient this season as he is shooting 52 percent from the field 39 percent from three and 88 percent from the free throw line. McClellan is coming off one of his worst shooting games of the season in Saturday's win over Wake Forest (3-10) but he did add 6 rebounds and 5 assists so he figures to be a key contributor regardless of how he is shooting.
While McClellan struggled to shoot on Saturday Ja'Quan Newton certainly did not. Newton made 5-10 from the field and had a game high 18 points off the bench for the Hurricanes. Although Newton is just sixth on the team in minutes per game (21.7) he is second on the team with his 11.8 points per game and he is also very efficient like McLellan (50 percent from the field, 37 percent from three).
This is the only meeting scheduled between these two teams this season as their is no return game at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Last season Miami beat Duke at Cameron and they are looking for a similar result, this time at home.
The game is scheduled to tip off at 7 P.M. Eastern time on ESPN and to watch the live broadcast go here. For the Duke radio broadcast go here and for the Miami radio broadcast go here.