No. 2 Duke Hosts App State Thursday Night at Cameron

Thursday, December 16

Durham, N.C.

7 P.M.

Duke University

Appalachian State

No. 2 Duke Hosts App State Thursday Night at Cameron

12/15/2021 3:53:00 PM | Men's Basketball

WATCH LISTEN LIVE STATS DUKE GAME NOTES (PDF)APP STATE GAME NOTES (PDF)GAME PROGRAM GAME DAY INFORMATION DUKECHECKIN.COM

THE OPENING TIP

Continuing its holiday home stand, No. 2 Duke hosts Appalachian State Thursday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The game tips at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2 with Dave O'Brien and Corey Alexander on the call. On the radio locally, David Shumate and John Roth call the action on the Blue Devil Sports Network from Learfield.
With wins over then-No. 1 Gonzaga and No. 10 Kentucky, Duke joins Gonzaga and Seton Hall as the only teams this season with multiple wins over AP top-10 teams.
Duke has been one of the nation's best ball-handling teams, ranking third in the NCAA in assist/turnover ratio (+1.95), eighth nationally in fewest turnovers (9.3), 13th in turnover margin (+5.8) and ninth in assists per game (18.2) -- Duke joins Northwestern as the only teams in the nation to rank in the top 15 in each category.
Duke is forcing 14.9 turnovers, averaging 9.1 steals and owns a +107 margin in points-off-turnover scoring (176-69).
The Blue Devils have made 34 more free throws than the opponents have attempted this season (125-91). Duke is committing 13.4 fouls per game -- second fewest in the ACC and 17th fewest nationally.
Junior Wendell Moore Jr., is the nation's only player averaging 17.0+ points, 6.0+ rebounds, 5.0+ assists and shooting .500+ from the field (17.0/6.0/5.0/.567).
Moore leads the ACC in assists, is second in assist/turnover ratio (+2.81), seventh in scoring, fifth in FG pct. and 21st in rebounds.
Freshman Paolo Banchero leads all power conference true freshmen in scoring at 17.1 points. The ACC's Preseason Player of the Year, Banchero is ranked in the ACC's top 11 in scoring (17.1, sixth), free throw percentage (.841, fourth) and FG percentage (.495, 11th).
Sophomore Mark Williams leads the ACC and is ranked 12th in the NCAA with 3.11 blocked shots per game. Williams has swatted multiple shots seven times this season and 17 times in 32 career games.
Williams has blocked 20 shots over the last six games, while averaging 12.7 points, 7.7 rebounds and shooting .708 (34-of-48) in that span.
Freshman Trevor Keels, who is the lone Blue Devils with a three-pointer in every game this season, ranks fourth in the ACC in assist/turnover ratio (+2.50) and fifth in steals (2.0).

DUKE-APP STATE HISTORY
Duke leads the all-time series over Appalachian State, 8-1 … All nine meeting have come at Cameron Indoor Stadium, with each of the last eight occurring in the Coach K era … The teams last met on Nov. 26, 2016 when Grayson Allen scored 21 points in an 83-58 Duke victory in Durham.

ABOUT THE MOUNTAINEERS
Appalachian State is 6-5 this season and is coming off a 73-65 defeat at Furman Friday night … Senior Adrian Delph is the only Mountaineer averaging in double-figure points at 16.5 per game, but three others -- senior Justin Forrest (9.4), graduate Michael Almonacy (9.4) and junior Donovan Gregory (8.0) are averaging 8.0+ per game … Eight of the 15 Mountaineers are either juniors, seniors or graduate students … Appalachian State is yielding just 59.4 points per game -- 18th best scoring defense nationally -- and has not allowed an opponent to score more than 75 this season … The Mountaineers were 35th in scoring defense last season (64.1) … Duke and App State are two of the least-fouling teams nationally, with the Blue Devils being whistled for 13.4 fouls per game (17th in the NCAA) and the Mountaineers just 12.9 (seventh fewest) … Duke (9.3) and App State (9.7) are also ranked eighth and 10th, respectively, in the NCAA in fewest turnovers per game this season … Under third-year head coach Dustin Kerns, App State was 17-12 last season, won the Sun Belt Tournament title and made the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2001.

VALUING THE BALL
Duke has been one of the nation's best ball-handling teams, ranking third in the NCAA in assist/turnover ratio (+1.95), eighth nationally in fewest turnovers (9.3), 13th in turnover margin (+5.8) and ninth in assists per game (18.2) -- Duke joins Northwestern as the only teams in the nation to rank in the top 15 in each category … The Blue Devils have posted a positive assists-to-turnover ratio in each of the last eight games after starting minus-1 in the opener against Kentucky (eight assists, nine turnovers) … Duke has assisted on at least 44 percent of its field goals in every game since the opener (eight assists on 25 field goals vs. Kentucky) -- and has been 64 percent or better five times this season … Duke is forcing 14.9 turnovers, averaging 9.1 steals and owns a +107 margin in points-off-turnover scoring (176-69) … Via KenPom, Duke is fourth nationally in offensive turnover percentage (12.8), is 37th in steal percentage (7.3) and is 54th in assist percentage (57.7).

ON THIS DATE
Duke is 15-1 all-time when playing on Dec. 16, including a 4-0 mark at Cameron Indoor Stadium … The Blue Devils played on this date last season -- a 75-65 win at Notre Dame in Duke's ACC opener.

MOORE DOES IT ALL
Junior Wendell Moore Jr., is proving early to be among the nation's most complete -- and improved -- players as the co-captain is the nation's only player averaging 17.0+ points, 6.0+ rebounds, 5.0+ assists and shooting .500+ from the field … The Charlotte native leads the ACC in assists (5.0), is second in the conference and 37th nationally in assist/turnover ratio (+2.81), is seventh in scoring (17.0) and fifth in field goal percentage (.567) … With his 19-10-10 vs. Army, he has one of the six triple-doubles in the nation this season. It marked just the fifth triple-double in Duke history and the third under Mike Krzyzewski … Moore's 10 assists in the Army game were a career high … The performance was also his third career double-double … Moore has scored 11 or more points in every game this season … The junior flirted with another triple-double against The Citadel, dropping 22 points, eight rebounds and nine assists … He was named the MVP of the Gonzaga game with 20 points, six rebounds, six assists and a career-high six steals.

PAOLO'S HOLIDAY STAT STUFFING
Freshman Paolo Banchero leads Duke in scoring (17.1) and rebounding (7.2) and is the Blue Devils leading free throw shooter at .841 (37-of-44) … He nearly had his first triple-double vs. The Citadel, with 28 points, eight rebounds and six assists … His 28 points and six assists were each career highs … The Seattle native has 20 assists and seven turnovers over Duke's last six games after one assist and 10 turnovers in the first three … In Tuesday's win over SC State, Banchero tied a career-high six assists with seven rebounds and 12 points in 22 minutes.

SC STATE GAME NOTABLES
Duke had eight different players hit at least one three-point field goal in the game, to match a school record. The record had been set four previous times, the last vs. St. Francis (Pa.) on Dec. 5, 2017 … Duke was 15-of-27 (.556) from three-point range, the 10th best percentage in school history on a minimum of 25 attempts. The record for best three-point percentage on a minimum of 25 attempts was 16-of-26 (.615) vs. Evansville on Dec. 20, 2017 … Freshman AJ Griffin scored a career-high 19 points off the bench, making his first seven shots and finishing 7-of-8 from the field, 3-of-4 from three-point range. He also had a career-high four assists … The five steals by sophomore Jeremy Roach were a career high.

CAMERON INDOOR STADIUM
Duke has posted an all-time record of 921-168 (.846) at Cameron Indoor, including 563-73 (.885) under Coach K … Duke is 258-62 (.806) in ACC regular-season games at Cameron Indoor in the Coach K era … Duke has won more games at its current home venue than any team in college basketball … Now in its 83rd season as the home of the Blue Devils, Duke has averaged 11.1 wins since the venue opened January 6, 1940 -- a 36-27 win over Princeton … The Blue Devils have 18 undefeated home seasons, including 11 under Coach K.

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