The North Carolina men's basketball team will have its hands full when it welcomes Duke to the Dean E. Smith Center this Saturday, as the Blue Devils boast a number of talented swingmen that have the potential to break the game wide open.
Here are three questions for UNC’s wings as they prepare for the highly-anticipated rivalry matchup:
How does Leaky Black match up against Duke’s wings?
Senior Leaky Black’s defense and playmaking ability have been commended this season, but his Achilles heel has been his shooting.
His low number of field goal attempts have allowed teams to leave Black open in the corner and send help defense down low, but his latest performances may force opponents to rethink this strategy.
Black has scored 23 points over his last three games, including shooting 3-5 from three against Virginia Tech last week. In comparison, Black was 2-10 from behind the arc in his previous 17 games. If he can continue his hot hand, Black could draw defensive attention and alleviate some of the pressure off his teammates.
On the other side of the ball, Black has frequently drawn the assignment of guarding the opposing team’s best perimeter players, and this trend will likely continue against Duke.
His obvious matchup options are forwards Wendell Moore Jr. and AJ Griffin. Moore — who played with Black at Cox Mill High School in Concord — is averaging north of 15 points per game while shooting 40.8 percent from deep.
Griffin is a newcomer to the Duke lineup, but has already had some notable performances such 22-point games at Louisville and Wake Forest and a 15-point game against Syracuse. Like Moore, Griffin is a threat from behind the arc – over half of his attempted field goals this season have been threes – and is also competent at getting to the basket.
