Duke's Matthew Hurt: We Have to Attack UNC Inside

Sophomore will be matched up against UNC's deep group of post players

Duke sophomore forward Matthew Hurt will be the focus of UNC’s attention in Saturday’s rivalry game. Hurt leads the Blue Devils in scoring and is also one of the Blue Devils’ biggest players on the court. That means he’ll be matched up against UNC bigs Garrison Brooks and Armando Bacot.

“They’re dominant forces inside the paint,” Hurt said. “Those two are really good inside. They also have two freshmen that come off the bench that are really talented as well (Day’Ron Sharpe and Walker Kessler). So it’s not just those two. Just trying to be physical with them back, try to hold our own and make them make tough shots, because they’re going to make some shots. We’ve got to make it tough on them. Skillset-wise, I think I’m more shooting threes but they’re more back to the basket, just getting buckets down low.”

Duke isn’t as dependent on the post, but they’ll have to hold their own inside to keep UNC from dominating in the paint.

“I think they have four big guys that are really talented, really strong, really physical,” Hurt said. “Going into the game, we’ve just got to be mentally prepared for the physicality. They’re going to try to get the ball inside and try to punish us and get me, Jalen (Johnson) and Mark (Williams) in foul trouble early. We’ve just got to be smart, try not to let them get to their spots and on offense, just attack them. Whether it’s shooting a three, whether it’s attacking off the dribble, just try and do a little bit of everything to get the frontcourt off balance.”