The Duke Blue Devils and Gonzaga Bulldogs both aim to stay perfect on the 2018-19 college basketball season as they meet in the Maui Invitational final.
The Duke Blue Devils continued their dominant early-season run on Tuesday night with a win over No. 8 Auburn in the first of two Maui Invitational semifinals. In truth, it was the least dominant effort that we’ve seen this season from Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish’s team. However, they won nonetheless, and will now face the third-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs on Wednesday in the tournament final.
In Tuesday’s win for Duke, perhaps the biggest boost for them was actually big man Marques Bolden. After looking awful in preseason exhibition play, the center came up huge against Auburn with 13 points, nine rebounds and seven blocks. If he’s able to play like that alongside the uber-talented freshmen of the Blue Devils, Mike Krzyzewski’s team is going to be impossible to beat.
Meanwhile, Mark Few’s Gonzaga team advanced to the Maui Invitational final with a win of their own on Tuesday night, topping Arizona. This is an experienced and highly talented Zags team led by Rui Hachimura, Zach Norvell Jr. and Brandon Clarke. They may not have the NBA pedigree of the Blue Devils freshmen, but they are undeniably talented and play well together.
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The Bulldogs have not seen the likes of Duke this season, but the same could be said of the Blue Devils. This Gonzaga team has the talent to make a deep tournament run and, in the third game in three days, Coach K’s young group could feel the wear and tear as the Zags experience shines through. It may not be the most likely outcome, but it’s in the cards.
Game Info
Date: Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018
Start Time: 5:00 p.m. ET
Location: Maui, HI
Arena: Lahaina Civic Center
TV Info: ESPN
Live Stream: WatchESPN
In just their sixth game of the season, this will be the third team that Duke has played ranked inside the top 10. On the contrary, this will be by far the toughest task placed before Gonzaga on the season. Either way, this will again start to give us an early picture of just how far ahead the Blue Devils are from everyone else.