NDSU Vying to Overcome Size, Skill Disparities against Duke

Duke is the top team in the country and takes on the Bison Friday night

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Thousands of fans packed into Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, S.C., Thursday afternoon just to watch the top-ranked Duke Blue Devils practice.

The biggest draw, of course was freshman Zion Williamson, who will likely be the top pick in this year’s NBA draft.

It is easy to understand why that might cause some mismatches for North Dakota State trying to cover him in Friday’s NCAA Tournament game.

“Obviously he’s one of the top players in the nation,” NDSU junior forward Rocky Kreuser said. “I guess I’ll be able to tell a little bit more after tomorrow night, but being able to play him is a great opportunity.”

“Zion is a really good player, but at the end of the day it’s a team game,” junior guard Vinnie Shahid said. “You can’t put one guy out there and beat five guys. That’s how we look at it. It’s a five-on-five game. Everyone’s going to contribute in some way. We’ve just got to look at it that way.”

But of course, Duke’s depth stretches well beyond Zion.

RJ Barrett is the team’s leading scorer and is second in rebounds.

The Blue Devils’ play on the glass is where potentially the biggest mismatch is.

“That’s how they get a ton of their points,” Kreuser said. “That’s how they getting going, a lot of those guys when they’re not making shots. So, it’s definitely a big emphasis on us to really box out and get in their legs and try to get them out of there.”

in the First Four game against North Carolina Central, NDSU was outrebounded 38-29.

“We look at where we had mistakes on the offensive rebounding last game,” Shahid said. “We see what we can do better. Obviously Duke is a more athletic team, a bigger team. We really just got to get bodies on those guys earlier so they don’t get a chance to freelance and jump, because when they jump, they obviously jump a lot higher than the rest of us. We really just got to get bodies on those guys.”

The reason North Dakota State has gotten this far has been their three-point shooting.

The Bison were on fire through the Summit League Tournament, and they sunk nine triples against NC Central.

But, Duke is ranked 10th nationally in 3-pt defense, holding teams to just 29.4 percent.

NDSU will find out on Friday night if the offense can break through. Tip-off is at 6:10 CT.