By: Ben McCormick
November 26, 2022
The eighth-ranked Blue Devils have already endured two tough matchups in Portland and prevailed. Now Duke faces the second ranked opponent so far in their young season: the No. 24 Purdue Boilermakers.
Duke began its three game stint in Portland in a less than desirable fashion. The Blue Devils matched up with one of the lowest rated teams in any power conference: Oregon State. Duke won, just barely, and it wasn't necessarily because Oregon State played winning basketball. Rather, Duke played losing basketball. At least normally that effort would would result in a loss. Duke shot under 27 percent from the floor, in fact it was the worst field goal percentage shot by Duke in a win, ever. If it weren't for the combined 30 points and 29 rebounds from Kyle Filipowski and Ryan Young, Thanksgiving would not have left Duke fans with a good taste in their mouth.
The Blue Devils followed up the disappointing effort with a much more energized win over Xavier. Most notably, Duke's perimeter players had a much better showing. Jeremy Roach scored a season-high 21 points as he led Duke to its biggest win of the season so far against a really good Xavier team.
Now Duke faces a formidable foe, yet an unexpected one. Purdue unsurprisingly beat West Virginia in its first game in Portland, but Friday night they upset No. 6 Gonzaga by nearly 20 points. Their star center, 7'4' Zach Edey will be the x-factor. He posted 24 points and 12 rebounds against West Virginia, and then 23 points and 7 rebounds against Gonzaga. Edey will be a tough matchup for Dereck Lively, Young, and Filipowski. The Boilermakers can shoot it as well though, it is not just as simple as take care of Edey and win. Purdue can make you pay from deep.
There is a championship up for grabs tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
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