Sharing. Focusing. Nailing 3s. Here are 5 takeaways from Duke's win over Rhode Island.

Duke, a No. 2 seed, beat No. 7 seed Rhode Island on Saturday, 87-62, in the NCAA tournament Round of 32, squashing any talk that there would be an upset.

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said from start to finish, his team played one of its best games. The Blue Devils (28-7) are currently clicking on the offensive and defensive end, and will return to the Sweet 16.

Here are five takeaways from Duke's game:

1. Duke appears to be playing its best basketball right now

Through the first two games of the NCAA tournament, Duke has won by an average of 23.5 points. The Blue Devils have played well offensively and defensively. And when it got a lead it both games — against Iona and Rhode Island — Duke kept working hard.

At times this season, Duke has had a tendency to start games slow and eventually work its way back. It happened as recently as the ACC tournament when Duke lost to North Carolina in the semifinals on March 9.

But that didn't happen in the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament for Duke, and as a result, it is headed to the Sweet 16.

2. Sharing is caring

Duke moved the ball around well against Rhode Island. When Duke freshman forward Marvin Bagley III, who's 6-11 and 234 pounds, was covered early in the game, the Blue Devils found other open players for easy 3s. Wendell Carter Jr., who's 6-10 and 259 pounds, dominated in the first few minutes, as Rhode Island couldn't handle Duke's height.

When Rhode Island tried to stop Duke in the post, the Blue Devils just kicked the ball outside.

"Everybody was on, so I wasn't really focused on getting my shot," Bagley said. "You know, everybody was on, clicking on all cylinders, and was scoring in different positions. And as long as it says two points with Duke, going forward, that's all that matters. That's all that I was worried about."

Duke's five starters scored in double digits. Bagley had 22, freshman guard Gary Trent Jr. had 18, Carter had 13, freshman guard Trevon Duval had 11 and senior guard Grayson Allen had 10.

"Coach prepared us well throughout the whole week," Trent said. "He told us to focus and play hard, play together and that is what we did tonight and that was the biggest thing for us."

3. The 3-point shot is very important for Duke

The inside game is almost always going to be on. That's what happens when you have two of the best offensive big men in the country. But when the outside shot is falling too, Duke is even more dangerous. Allen and Trent can get hot at any time. They combined to go 7-for-13 from behind the 3-point line.

Even Duval is getting into the action. He is 5-for-9 from behind the arc in Duke's two NCAA tournament games so far. Duval was a a 27 percent 3-point shooter coming into the game. He has had the green light to shoot in the last two games.

4. Duke is focused, focused, focused

No. 1 Virginia lost to UMBC, a 16 seed, on Friday night. It was the first time a 16 seed has beaten a 1 seed in the tournament's history. And the Blue Devils were watching.

An upset could have happened to Duke against Rhode Island had the Blue Devils not brought their A game. Rhode Island has five seniors, all with NCAA tournament experience, who know how to win.

But Duke's players knew the stakes. They knew what could happen and brought it on Saturday.

Duke led the game for 33 minutes. Rhode Island led for 6 minutes and the game was tied for one minute.

"We just tried to keep it on them," Allen said. "Keep that lead the whole game. Our focus has been really, really good. None of the guys have been talking about future matchups or past matchups."

"We've were focused on Iona, and we were focused on Rhode Island."

5. Duke is trying to cut back on turnovers

Turnovers were starting to be a problem early in the game, something Krzyzewski attributed to nerves. Duke turned the ball over four times in the first five minutes of the game. Eventually the players took better care of the basketball and found opportunities to score. Duke is at its worst when it turns the ball over too many times.

It turned the ball over 14 times on Saturday against Rhode Island, which is still too much.

This story was originally published March 17, 2018 at 8:08 PM with the headline "Sharing. Focusing. Nailing 3s. Here are 5 takeaways from Duke's win over Rhode Island.."