{"id":167076,"date":"2025-11-17T21:25:40","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T02:25:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=167076"},"modified":"2025-11-17T21:25:51","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T02:25:51","slug":"3-keys-for-duke-to-beat-kansas-in-champions-classic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/11\/17\/3-keys-for-duke-to-beat-kansas-in-champions-classic\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Keys for Duke to Beat Kansas in Champions Classic"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Duke Blue Devils enter the Champions Classic ranked fifth in the nation at 4-0<\/a>. They have played well throughout the season and are currently ranked number one on KenPom<\/a>. Duke has the fifth best offense and ninth best defense analytically in the nation. However, Kansas is their biggest test of the entire season thus far. Here are 3 keys to the Duke vs Kansas Champions Classic matchup.<\/p>\n

This will also be created with the expectation that Darryn Peterson<\/a> will play because it is a huge game and the injury seems to be minor based on Bill Self’s press conferences.<\/p>\n

3 Keys for Duke to Beat Kansas in Champions Classic<\/h2>\n

1. Keep Kansas Out of Transition<\/h3>\n

Kansas is 3-1 this season. Their one loss was to North Carolina in a game they were absolutely dominated in the second half. One of the key differences in Kansas’s three wins vs one loss is the transition game. Kansas thrived with many transition possessions in their wins but only had six total transition possessions in their loss. If Duke can hold Kansas to single digit possessions of transition then they will be in a prime position to win.<\/p>\n

Part of this reason is because Kansas does not have a primary playmaker and their half-court offense can struggle when Darryn Peterson does not play.
\n<\/p>\n

2. Run Kansas Off the 3 Point Line<\/h3>\n

Kansas is elite at catch and shoot jumpers. They are averaging an incredible 1.2 points per shot which equates to about 40.1% of their catch and shoot attempts leading to scores. Part of this success is from the elite driving ability of Darryn Peterson and Melvin Council<\/a>. These guys are both explosive off the bounce and incredibly quick with their first step.<\/p>\n

Notably, Kansas is very poor shooting off the bounce. The Jayhawks average 0.56 points per shot on dribble jumpers which ranks in the bottom 10% in the country. They also score 0.5 points per shot on runners which is ranked in the bottom 20% of the country. While running Peterson and Council off the three point line can be concerning, the statistics support limiting catch and shoot three point attempts from Kansas as much as possible.
\n<\/p>\n

3. Get Flory Bidunga Off the Floor<\/h3>\n

Flory Bidunga<\/a> has been huge for the Jayhawks thus far. He has a box plus minus of 12.8 with an offensive box plus minus of 7.5. He also has a usage rate of 24% which is slightly inflated from Peterson missing the last few games. Bidunga has taken a big step forward this year and is now a true post weapon. He is also very efficient in the pick and roll game as a roller. Bidunga is responsible for 2 points per possession on rolls and 1.26 points per possession on post ups.<\/p>\n

The one big knock on Kansas is they do not have another post threat. Bryson Tiller<\/a> is a good young big but he is more efficient in the pick and pop game or spot up game. There is really no one that can step up to guard the Duke bigs beyond Bidunga.
\n<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h3>\n

Cameron Boozer<\/a> and Patrick Ngongba<\/a> should dominate this game. Dame Sarr<\/a> will have the responsibility of Peterson. Caleb Foster<\/a> will have to keep Melvin Council in front of him. Realistically, Duke matches up quite well with Kansas and that is why they are big favorites. Expect Boozer to have quite the double-double<\/a> in this one.<\/p>\n

The Champions Classic always delivers so expect this game to be a great one. Unfortunately, for Duke fans, it is a late one so make sure to have an afternoon coffee or three!<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Rob Kinnan-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Duke Blue Devils enter the Champions Classic ranked fifth in the nation at 4-0. They have played well throughout the season and are currently ranked number one on KenPom. Duke has the fifth best offense and ninth best defense analytically in the nation. However, Kansas is their biggest test of the entire season thus […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3244,"featured_media":167078,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,773,2],"tags":[3120,2980,1432,49715,49782,48981],"class_list":["post-167076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-college-basketball","category-featured","tag-acc-basketball","tag-big-12-basketball","tag-bill-self","tag-cameron-boozer","tag-darryn-peterson","tag-jon-scheyer"],"modified_by":"Zach Kircher","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3244"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167076"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":167082,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167076\/revisions\/167082"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}