The Duke Blue Devils didn't win the ACC Tournament, but they did get a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and hope to start off fresh against the No. 16 seed Robert Morris Colonials, who were one of the first teams to earn a bid to this year's event.
Duke (29-4) had their 12-game winning streak snapped in the ACC Tournament semifinal against Notre Dame, but finished the year second in the ACC one game behind Virginia with a 15-3 conference record. The Blue Devils defeated a number of formidable opponents, including Wisconsin, Michigan State, Connecticut, Louisville, Virginia, Notre Dame and North Carolina, but had a couple of questionable losses against NC State and Miami.
With stars Jahlil Okafor (17.7 ppg, 9.0 rpg and 1.4 bpg) as well as Quinn Cook (15.7 ppg, 2.7 apg and 1.0 spg), they shouldn't have anything to worry about since a No. 16 seed has never defeated a No. 1 seed. However, they need to stay focused early on in the tournament since they were eliminated in the first round two out of the past three years.
Robert Morris heads into tonight on a seven-game win streak, with victories over St. Francis Brooklyn (earning them a bid to the NCAA Tournament) and another over Northern Florida in the third play-in game of the big dance. The Colonials also faced a couple of tough opponents in the beginning of the year, including North Carolina, Georgetown and Buffalo to improve their resume.
Leading the charge for the Colonials offensive attack are guards Rodney Pryor (15.4 ppg), Marcquise Reed (14.9 ppg) and Lucky Jones (14.5 ppg), and the team is going to need plenty of that to compete with Duke, who has one of the most prolific offenses in the country. Pryor, Reed and Jones scored a combined 60 points against Northern Florida to ensure their matchup against the Blue Devils.
Here are some key stats you should know before tonight's 7:10 p.m. ET tip-off in Charlotte, NC.
Duke | Robert Morris |
RPI - .6585 (5th overall) | RPI - .4990 (174th overall) |
SOS - 11 | SOS - 252 |
Points Per Game - 80.6 (4th overall) | Points Per Game - 69.0 (133rd overall) |
FG% - .502 (3rd overall) | FG% - .446 (104th overall) |
Points Allowed Per Game - 65.6 (144th overall) | Points Allowed Per Game - 68.0 (218th overall) |
Turnovers Per Game - 11.2 (57th overall) | Turnovers Per Game - 13.5 (261st overall) |
Season Rank - 4 | Season Rank - 171 |
Check out the Duke/Robert Morris live stream here as well as the live radio broadcast here. The game will be televised on CBS.
