The Duke Blue Devils put the finishing touches on the 2024 calendar year in proper fashion on Tuesday afternoon, defeating Virginia Tech 88-65 for a seventh straight victory to improve to 11-2.
With 2025 now upon us, freshman superstar [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] and his teammates remain the second-best team in the country according to KenPom’s efficiency rankings.
The Duke defense earned plenty of praise to start the year, and the Blue Devils remain third in the site’s defensive metrics. Flagg and his teammates are starting to stir on the other side of the court, however. The first-year forward scored 24 points against the Hokies, his fourth 20-point performance in Duke’s last six games, and Duke’s now scored at least 80 points in back-to-back contests for the first time since the first two games of the year.
The recent form moved the Blue Devils back within the top 10 in KenPom’s offensive rating, leaving them ninth with 121.0 adjusted points per 100 possessions.
Duke’s margin (offensive efficiency minus defensive efficiency) of +32.65 leaves them behind only the Auburn Tigers (+36.28). No other team is above +31.0, and only three other teams sit above +28.0, so the Blue Devils and Tigers look like a class of their own.