Duke basketball fans probably felt (understandably) disheartened after Tuesday’s loss to the Kentucky Wildcats.
With phenom [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] and three other five-star freshmen arriving on campus, the Cameron Crazies had visions of a dominant season that ended with a banner. However, first-year Kentucky coach Mark Pope and his team outscored the Blue Devils 24-11 over the closing stretch for a 77-72 win in the team’s first ranked test on the schedule.
However, the hard truth is that national analysts and fans won’t remember that game by March. The team might not even remember it by the end of the regular season. There’s no faster way to shorten everyone’s memories than with another top-25 win, and the Blue Devils get two chances at one of those in the next week.
First up, a road trip to Tucson for a revenge battle against No. 17 Arizona. The Wildcats, now anchored by former North Carolina Tar Heels star Caleb Love, left Durham with a win last November, and head coach [autotag]Jon Scheyer[/autotag] now hopes to return the favor. Here are our staff predictions for Friday’s showdown.
Ryan Haley, Duke Wire site editor
The most important aspect of this game has been pretty overlooked so far this week: this isn’t the same Arizona team that beat Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Oumar Ballo and Kylan Boswell both transferred, and Keshad Johnson and Pelle Larsson now play professionally. Even with former Tennessee Volunteer Tobe Awaka and some returners stepping forward, that production and leadership will take time to rebuild.
The Blue Devils won’t just get this game handed to them, however. Someone other than Flagg needs to step up down the stretch. The 17-year-old scored 12 of Duke’s last 14 points against Kentucky, and an offensive plan that entirely revolves around him playing hero ball won’t work against the best teams ahead.
With that said, however, I firmly believe Duke’s pathetic 4/24 3-point showing against the Wildcats was a blue-moon event. If the Blue Devils put together even a slightly-below-average game, they’d be undefeated, and that gets rectified in Tucson.
Duke 79, Arizona 61
Bryant Crews, Staff Writer
Scheyer and the Duke Blue Devils hit the road for their first true road game of the 2024-25 season, and as every college basketball watcher knows, those games are always challenging. Pit two top-25 teams against each other and toss in that revenge is on the mind for one with Love, a legendary Duke villain, potentially lacing up his kicks for the last time against a school he has terrorized, and you have a marquee matchup.
These are two gifted teams with talent on both sides. Scheyer scheduled games like these to test and push his squad so that come March and April; the Blue Devils could be ready for a run for the national title. Even though this isn’t a neutral site game, it already has a second weekend of the NCAA Tournament-type feel in November.
Duke is the better team, in my opinion, and still has a substantial amount of room to go. If this were a neutral site, people would be less inclined to think Arizona wins, but Duke’s depth and high-end talent tip the scales even without home-court advantage.
Caleb Foster has to show up, and if Kon Knueppel hits even 25% more shots than he did against Kentucky, Duke should do this by multiple possessions. I don’t see Arizona containing Duke from deep for another 4/24 performance like Atlanta. While Arizona will try to bully the youngster Khaman Maluach inside with older post players, Maluach holds his ground and has three blocks while pulling down at least eight boards.
Sion James and Mason Gillis combined for four made threes off the bench as the Blue Devils roll.
Duke 78, Arizona 71
Josiah Caswell, Staff Writer
Duke’s 2024-25 season has started off strong, but not without blemishes. Despite three blowout victories over weaker competition, the Blue Devils fell short in their matchup with Kentucky.
The Wildcats’ high-percentage performance played a big reason in that loss. Additionally, Flagg struggled in the final seconds despite an overall good game.
Now, Duke goes on the road for the first time against the Wildcats and Love just one year after they took down the Blue Devils in Durham.
Arizona is in a similar spot to Duke, though. Following two massive blowout victories over lesser competition, Arizona fell 103-88 to the Wisconsin Badgers. Love, notably, went 2/13 from the field and 0/6 from behind the arc.
If Arizona is to bounce back and take down Duke, they’ll need to up their 3-point percentage and improve their defense. If the Wildcats let someone on Duke put up 40 points, they certainly won’t be winning.
Duke 86, Arizona 77