For Duke and UNC, the battle starts out front
The game within a game, in one of the biggest games on any college basketball season’s schedule, starts out front for Duke and North Carolina.
Saturday night’s game at the Smith Center in Chapel Hill pairs talented point guards Tre Jones and Cole Anthony against one another for the first time as collegians.
Jones, a 6-3 sophomore, is renowned as one of the nation’s best defenders and big reason No. 7 Duke (19-3, 9-2 ACC) is near the top of the ACC standings. Anthony, a 6-3 freshman, is a superior scorer who has scored 20 points or more five times in the 11 games he’s played in an injury-interrupted season.
Anthony, who averages 19.5 points per game, returned a week ago after missing 11 games with a knee injury. He scored 26 points against Boston College in his first game since Dec. 8.
UNC (10-12, 3-8) struggled in his absence. But that’s behind the Tar Heels now as Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said Anthony “gives them a player that’s an ultimate competitor and a big-time talent.”
Jones is in his second season showing his talents, particularly on the defensive end.
His 1.9 steals per game are second in the ACC and No. 59 out of all players nationwide. Even though he missed two December games with a sprained foot, Jones’ 38 steals this season are fifth among ACC players.
Anthony and Jones have played against each other before as high schoolers. But Saturday night’s rivalry showdown will take it to another level.
“I’m just excited to go against one of the best guards in college basketball,” Anthony said on Thursday. “I’m just excited. I want to see how I match up against him.”
Overall, Krzyzewski said rebounding and ball protection will be important in determining who wins between Duke and UNC.
“The team that will rebound the best and turnover the ball least will have the best chance to win,” Krzyzewski said.
The Jones-Anthony matchup factors heavily in the turnover category.
According to an advanced statistical breakdown by Synergy Sports, Jones ranks in the 90th percentile nationally in preventing the player he’s guarding from scoring. Those players have scored just 0.647 points per possession, which garners Jones a grade of excellent.
Jones forces a turnover 18.7 percent of the time.
The majority of the time, opponents use a pick-and-roll play to try to shake loose from Jones. Those situations account for 56.7 percent of Jones’ defensive plays.
But opposing players only make 32.7 percent of their shots in those situations while turning the ball over 20.8 percent of the time.
Teams have only risked isolating a ball-handler against Jones on 19 possessions this season. Those players have combined to hit 1 of 11 shots while turning it over four times.
Anthony, conversely, has been a solid scorer when isolated with a one-on-one defender. On 35 such possessions, he’s scored 33 points. That offensive efficiency of .943 ranks in the 76th percentile nationally. He’s only turned the ball over once in those situations.
UNC predominately has Anthony as a ball-handler in pick-and-roll sets. Those situations account for 25 percent of his possessions while he’s in transition 23.1 percent of the time.
As the pick-and-roll ballhandler, Anthony has only made 31.2 percent of his shots while turning it over 18.2 percent of the time.
This appears to be a place where Jones can take advantage of Anthony. But how that battle plays out will be intriguing.
“Tre has to approach any point guard as a challenge,” Krzyzewski said. “It’s kind of like the same thing people would say about the game. Well, you are going to do more in this game. If you haven’t learned to do more, you aren’t going to do more in this game. Doing more is a habit and Tre plays hard every game so he’s not going to play harder in this game. Hopefully he’ll play as hard but he knows he is going to be against an outstanding talent.”
Staff writer Jonathan Alexander contributed to this article