Tag: Duke Blue Devils

Duke women’s basketball rises five spots to No. 8 in updated AP Poll

After consecutive ranked wins out in Nevada last week, the Duke women’s basketball team rose up to No. 8 in the latest AP Poll.

The Duke women’s basketball team, now riding a six-game win streak after defeating the Kansas State Wildcats and Oklahoma Sooners to take the Ball Dawgs Classic, became a top-10 team in the updated AP Top 25 women’s college basketball poll.

The Blue Devils rose five spots to No. 8 in Monday’s rankings, setting up a top-10 showdown with No. 3 South Carolina in Columbia this Thursday. With the Notre Dame Fighting Irish tumbling down to No. 10 with a pair of losses, head coach Kara Lawson and her team can now call themselves the highest-ranked ACC program.

Duke has benefitted from some monster games during its recent winning streak, including a 30-point performance from Ashlon Jackson against Kansas State and a 35-point day from Reigan Richardson against Oklahoma.

Five-star freshman forward Toby Fournier is also averaging 11.9 points per game after her 25-point game against Belmont, and the 6-foot-2 debutant has notched at least 10 points in six of her nine games.

The North Carolina Tar Heels, also 7-1 for the season, remained in place at No. 16.

Where are the Duke Blue Devils on the USA TODAY Sports college football re-rank?

Check out where the Duke Blue Devils landed on the USA TODAY Sports college football re-rank after their 9-3 regular season.

The Duke Blue Devils couldn’t quite break into the top 25 in the US LBM Coaches Poll after their ninth regular-season win in Week 14, but USA TODAY Sports writer Paul Myerberg thinks head coach [autotag]Manny Diaz[/autotag] is leading a top-25 team.

Myerberg released his updated ranking of all 134 college football teams on Monday, and the Blue Devils crept up two spots to 22nd after their 23-17 comeback over the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, one spot below the Colorado Buffaloes.

The Blue Devils don’t have a top-25 win on their resume, but if fans include their last-minute field goal to force overtime against Northwestern, Diaz and his team have come from behind in the fourth quarter four times in 2024. Quarterback [autotag]Maalik Murphy[/autotag] completed 16 of his 20 passes in the second half, running for a touchdown before launching a 39-yard scoring throw to Jordan Moore on the final play.

With Syracuse’s upset over Miami, the ACC title game race got thrown into chaos at the buzzer. After a 9-0 start to the season, the Hurricanes won’t even make the trip to Charlotte after a pair of late losses, instead crossing their fingers for an at-large College Football Playoff berth.

Myerberg slotted Miami at No. 16 in his updated rankings, a full ten spots behind the SMU Mustangs (No. 6) at the top of the conference. The Clemson Tigers (No. 17) will head to the title game despite three regular-season losses, but no other ACC team finished above Duke on Myerberg’s list.

Duke Blue Devils start fourth in initial NCAA men’s basketball net rankings

Despite two losses in the Blue Devils’ first six games, Duke ended up fourth in the initial net men’s basketball rankings from the NCAA.

The Duke Blue Devils, despite losses to the Kentucky Wildcats and Kansas Jayhawks in their first six games, made the top five of the NCAA’s initial men’s basketball net rankings on Monday.

Thanks to a ranked win over the Arizona Wildcats in its only true road game, Duke started the season fourth in the net rankings behind only the Tennessee Volunteers, Auburn Tigers, and Gonzaga Bulldogs.

The Blue Devils have won all four of their home games by at least 22 points, holding Wofford and Seattle to 83 combined points in the last two contests at Cameron Indoor Stadium. However, Auburn comes to town on Wednesday after a Maui Invitational title that featured wins over the Iowa State Cyclones, North Carolina Tar Heels, and Memphis Tigers.

A win over Auburn would push Duke closer to the top of the net rankings and could very well provide a head-to-head tiebreaker for a No. 1 seed in the eventual NCAA Tournament bracket. Superstar freshman [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag], who scored 50 points against Kansas and Kentucky, will likely need his third 20-point performance of the season.

The Pittsburgh Panthers, off to a 7-1 start, surprisingly came in fifth in the net rankings as the second-best ACC team. The Tar Heels, after three losses in seven games to start the year, failed to crack the top 25 at 26th.

Duke women’s basketball picks up sixth straight win with 77-61 triumph over Columbia

The Duke women’s basketball team improved to 8-1 on Sunday as Reigan Richardson led the Blue Devils past Columbia.

The Duke women’s basketball team kept rolling on Sunday with a 77-61 victory over the Columbia Lions charged by 19 points from senior guard Reigan Richardson.

The Blue Devils returned to Durham after a resume-changing week in Nevada, defeating the Kansas State Wildcats and Oklahoma Sooners to win the Ball Dawgs Classic and extend their winning streak to five.

Richardson, who scored 35 points in the title game against the Sooners, picked up right where she left off at Cameron Indoor Stadium. She set up Jadyn Donovan for an opening layup less than a minute into the game and added seven points of her own before the end of the opening frame, including a 3-pointer with 30 seconds left on the clock to build a 25-15 lead.

Richardson ended the game with 19 points and seven rebounds, making two of her three 3-point looks and eight of her 14 shots overall.

The Lions closed within eight points with 1:29 left to play before halftime, but Vanessa de Jesus knocked down a triple before assisting another Donovan bucket in the final 10 seconds. In an instant, a potential second-half nailbiter became a 43-30 Duke lead.

The Lions notched 21 third-quarter points as they tried to claw back into the contest, but seven more points from Richardson helped the Blue Devils produce 20 points of their own to stay ahead.  Columbia never closed within 12 in the final frame.

de Jesus and Oluchi Okananwa came off the bench and combined for 14 points and 10 assists in just 39 minutes, and star freshman Toby Fournier added 10 points of her own for her sixth double-digit performance in nine games.

Solid win for us. Got contributions from a lot of players,” head coach Kara Lawson said after the game. “We continue to get good production off our bench, which is necessary.”

The Blue Devils get three days off now before a Thursday road trip to South Carolina for a game against the defending national champion Gamecocks.

Duke football closes in on the AP Poll Top 25 after Wake Forest win in Week 14

The Duke Blue Devils, after their nine-win regular season, almost made their way into the top 25 of the AP Poll on Sunday.

After three straight wins to close the 2024 regular season, the Duke Blue Devils nearly cracked the top 25 of the updated AP Poll on Sunday.

After only receiving six votes last week, leaving them as the unofficial No. 31 team in the rankings, Duke shuffled up to 28th thanks to 30 votes this week.

The Blue Devils appeared to be in danger in Winston-Salem on Saturday, dropping behind in-state rival Wake Forest 17-3 early in the third quarter after an inopportune fumble. However, quarterback [autotag]Maalik Murphy[/autotag] orchestrated three touchdown drives over the final 18 minutes for the comeback victory. On the final play of the game, he found senior wideout Jordan Moore for a 39-yard touchdown to clinch the 23-17 win.

Only four other ACC schools won nine games during the regular season, but each of the others ended up in this week’s top 25. The Syracuse Orange vaulted up to 23rd after a home upset of the Miami Hurricanes, who tumbled down to 14th and out of the conference title game with their second loss in three games.

The SMU Mustangs (No. 8) and Clemson Tigers (No. 18) will meet in Charlotte to decide the conference’s automatic berth into the College Football Playoff.

Duke football flips three-star wide receiver formerly committed to Wake Forest

One day after the Duke Blue Devils defeated Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, a former Demon Deacons commit flipped to Manny Diaz’s program.

The Duke Blue Devils won in Winston-Salem for a second straight day on Sunday afternoon.

Three-star 2025 wide receiver Jamien Little, a former Wake Forest commit, announced his decision in favor of the Blue Devils on Sunday.

“(I’m) truly blessed,” Little wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

A 6-foot-1 wideout from Hickory High School in North Carolina, Little decommitted from the Demon Deacons on November 10 just eight months after his initial decision. He visited Durham in October, and he received an offer from the North Carolina Tar Heels just two weeks afterward.

Little is the No. 64 wideout in the 2025 class, according to the 247Sports recruiting rankings, and the site’s Composite rankings have him as the No. 768 overall player in the class. According to MaxPreps, he leads the Hickory Red Tornadoes with 51 receptions for 1,167 yards and 16 touchdowns through 13 games as a senior.

His decision comes less than 24 hours after the Blue Devils took down Wake Forest on the road, a 23-17 victory clinched by Maalik Murphy’s 39-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Moore on the final play of the game.

Little becomes the fourth wide receiver and 27th overall commitment in Duke’s 2025 recruiting class, and he’s the highest-ranked player at his position among that group.

Duke football just misses top 25 in US LBM Coaches Poll after nine-win regular season

With their last-second win over Wake Forest cementing a 9-3 record, the Duke Blue Devils broke into the top 25 of the US LBM Coaches Poll.

The Duke Blue Devils almost broke into the US LBM Coaches Poll on Sunday on the heels of their 23-17 victory over the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.

With a 10-win season still on the table with a potential bowl victory, the Blue Devils fell behind their in-state rivals 17-3 early in the third quarter. However, Duke stormed back once again thanks to the second-half performance of quarterback [autotag]Maalik Murphy[/autotag]. The former Texas Longhorn completed 16 of his last 20 passes for 153 yards with two total touchdowns, including the winning 39-yard pass to Jordan Moore on the final play.

The Blue Devils now have 39 votes in the coaches poll, leaving them in an unofficial 27th as the second-leading team in the Receiving Votes category.

Four ACC teams made the top 25, led by the SMU Mustangs (No. 7) after they put the finishing touches on an undefeated conference schedule with a 38-6 victory over California on Saturday. Instead of presumed favorite Miami, SMU will face the Clemson Tigers (No. 17) in the conference title game. The Hurricanes dropped to 14th after they lost a 42-38 shootout to Syracuse on the road, dropping to 10-2 with a worse conference record than Dabo Swinney’s program.

The Orange, also 9-3 thanks to the stunning victory, joined the bottom of the rankings at 25th.

Check out the complete US LBM Coaches Poll below.

Rank Team Record Points
1 Oregon Ducks 12-0 1,325 (53)
2 Texas Longhorns 11-1 1,272
3 Penn State Nittany Lions 11-1 1,192
4 Notre Dame Fighting Irish 11-1 1,165
5 Georgia Bulldogs 10-2 1,104
6 Tennessee Volunteers 10-2 1,025
7 SMU Mustangs 11-1 977
8 Ohio State Buckeyes 10-2 976
9 Indiana Hoosiers 11-1 895
10 Boise State Broncos 11-1 840
11 Alabama Crimson Tide 9-3 733
12 South Carolina Gamecocks 9-3 700
13 Arizona State Sun Devils 10-2 665
14 Miami Hurricanes 10-2 646
15 Ole Miss Rebels 9-3 638
16 Iowa State Cyclones 10-2 565
17 Clemson Tigers 9-3 457
18 BYU Cougars 10-2 419
19 UNLV Rebels 10-2 255
20 Missouri Tigers 9-3 229
21 Illinois Fighting Illini 9-3 225
22 Colorado Buffaloes 9-3 215
23 Army Black Knights 10-1 196
24 Memphis Tigers 10-2 187
25 Syracuse Orange 9-3 108

Dropped Out

No. 18 Tulane; No. 19 Texas A&M

Receiving Votes

Texas A&M 90; Duke 39; Tulane 37; Louisville 18; Kansas State 15; Louisiana 11; Michigan 2; Georgia Tech 2; Miami (OH) 1; Iowa 1

Duke football barely moves in ESPN FPI rankings after Week 14 win over Wake Forest

Even with its third straight win clinching a 9-3 regular season, Duke still can’t crack the top 50 of the ESPN FPI rankings.

The Duke Blue Devils cemented their second nine-win season since 2022 on Saturday with a 14-point comeback against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, cementing a season sweep of the state with a last-second touchdown catch from star wideout Jordan Moore.

While the Blue Devils capped off a 9-3 regular-season campaign with three straight wins, the ESPN Football Power Index continued to keep Duke on the outside of its upper echelon.

As of Sunday morning, the Blue Devils are just 54th in the FPI rankings, a single spot higher than they were last week.

As has been the case all season, Duke remained below teams with losing records and even a team it defeated. The Virginia Tech Hokies, who beat Virginia on Saturday to reach six wins, stuck at 35th despite a loss to the Blue Devils in Week 13. The Auburn Tigers (29th), Kansas Jayhawks (34th), UCF Knights (43rd), Utah Utes (46th), Wisconsin Badgers (48th), and Kentucky Wildcats (49th) ended up above the Blue Devils despite failing to clinch bowl eligibility.

No ACC teams cracked the top 10 of the national rankings after Miami’s loss to Syracuse, but the Hurricanes (11th), SMU Mustangs (12th), Louisville Cardinals (13th), and Clemson Tigers (15th) all sit just on the outside.

Duke women’s soccer set to face North Carolina Tar Heels in national semifinals

Duke women’s soccer booked its first ticket to the national semifinals since 2017 on Saturday night, and an old rival awaits next weekend.

The Duke women’s soccer team punched its fifth ticket to the NCAA College Cup on Saturday night, a 1-0 victory over Virginia Tech that sent the Blue Devils back to the national semifinals for the first time since 2017.

While head coach Robbie Church’s final season in Durham has felt like something from a fairy tale thus far, the team from Chapel Hill wants a word before the journey takes another step. Duke will face the North Carolina Tar Heels on Friday, December 6, with a spot in the national title game on the line.

The Blue Devils defeated UNC in Durham for the first time ever on September 5, a 1-0 victory punctuated by a Maggie Graham goal in the final minute of the first half. Duke followed that up with a 3-2 victory over the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill on October 31, but North Carolina bounced the Blue Devils from the ACC Tournament with a 2-1 win on November 7.

That game is Duke’s only outright loss since August 15.

The Blue Devils have shut out each of their first four postseason opponents, defeating Howard, Texas Tech, the Michigan State Spartans, and the Hokies by a combined margin of 14-0.

Friday’s game starts at 7:30 p.m. Eastern time and will be broadcast on ESPNU.

ESPN Analytics gives Duke basketball more than a 65% chance to beat Auburn

The Auburn Tigers might have the best resume in college basketball this season, but ESPN Analytics still favors Duke on Wednesday.

The onslaught of ranked Duke basketball opponents continues on Wednesday with a home game against the Auburn Tigers, and even with a battle against No. 1 Kansas in the rearview mirror, this might be the most daunting foe yet.

According to the ESPN Matchup Predictor, the Blue Devils have a 65.9% chance to defend their home court at Cameron Indoor Stadium despite Auburn’s sterling resume.

The undefeated Tigers won the Maui Invitational this week with victories over the Iowa State Cyclones, North Carolina Tar Heels, and Memphis Grizzlies in a three-day span. Auburn also beat the Houston Cougars by five points in its second game of the season, and it has averaged 86.7 points per game. Star forward Johni Broome has now scored at least 21 points in each of his last four games with five consecutive double-doubles, putting him in early conversations for national awards.

Duke’s superstar freshman [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] leads the Blue Devils with 15.9 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 4.1 rebounds per game. Duke might need his third 20-point performance of the young season to take down the Tigers.

The game tips off at 9:15 p.m. Eastern time on ESPN this Wednesday.