Duke Hits Road For Saturday Matchup at Syracuse

Saturday, February 18

Syracuse, N.Y.

6 p.m.

Duke University

Syracuse

Duke Hits Road For Saturday Matchup at Syracuse

2/16/2023 2:32:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Watch Listen Live Stats Duke Notes (PDF)Syracuse Notes (PDF)

Opening Tip

A win shy of the program's 700th ACC regular-season win, Duke heads to Syracuse Saturday night for a crucial showdown with the Orange at JMA Wireless Dome.
Dave O'Brien and Dick Vitale call the game for ESPN while Kris Budden reports from the sideline. On the radio, David Shumate and John Roth have the call for the Blue Devil Sports Network from LEARFIELD.
Both teams enter the game at 9-6 in the ACC and battling for ACC Tournament seeding with five games remaining in the regular season. Following Saturday, the Blue Devils are home for three consecutive games -- the team's longest home-stand this season.
Freshman Kyle Filipowski, the seven-time ACC Rookie of the Week, leads all conference freshmen in rebounding and double-doubles. His 11 double-doubles are the most by any freshman nationally, while his 9.1 rebounds lead all power conference freshmen.
At 15.1 points, Filipowski is the nation's only freshman -- and one of just nine power conference players overall -- averaging at least 15 points and nine rebounds this season.
Junior guard Jeremy Roach has scored 108 points over his last eight games (13.5) since returning from a toe injury that held him out for three games. He's averaged 15.2 points over the last five, including 21 in a win over Wake, 20 in a win over Carolina and 16 at No. 8 Virginia.
Freshman Dariq Whitehead returned two games ago from a lower leg sprain that held him out for three games. Whitehead has made nine of his last 13 (.692) from three-point range and is Duke's best from downtown this season (.397).
Duke has held 22 teams below their season scoring average (18-4 in those games), including nine that scored a then-season low for points versus the Blue Devils.
The Blue Devils are second in the conference in scoring defense (64.3), while Duke leads the ACC in three-point field goal defense (.302) and is fourth in field goal defense (.416).
Duke has out-rebounded 21 opponents and is 17-4 this season when holding an advantage on the glass. Duke is 14-4 when leading in offensive rebounding.
The ACC's best rebounding team, Duke ranks sixth nationally in rebound margin (+8.3), 13th in offensive rebounds (13.0) and 13th in rebounds per game (39.5) -- leading the ACC in each.
Duke has not lost in regulation with its full complement of scholarship players available (10-1); but is 8-7 in games where players were injured in-game or did not play due to injury or illness.

On This Date: Feb. 18

Duke is 22-12 when playing on Feb. 18 and has won five straight and eight of the last nine on this date.
Duke last played on this date in 2018 -- a 66-57 win at Clemson.
The Blue Devils and Orange have not yet played on this date.

Series Notes

Duke and Syracuse have met 20 times with the Blue Devils leading, 14-6. Duke has won seven straight and nine of the last 10.
Duke has won three straight at JMA Wireless Dome (formerly the Carrier Dome) where it is 4-2 all-time.
The Blue Devils have won nine of the 13 regular-season meetings since Syracuse joined the ACC, including a two game sweep last year -- 79-59 at Cameron Indoor on Jan. 22 and 97-72 at the Carrier Dome on Feb. 26.
Duke also beat the Orange, 88-79, in the 2022 ACC quarterfinals, logging 24 assists in the game and 75 over the three game sweep of Syracuse last season.
Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim served as an assistant under former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski's Team USA staffs that won Olympic gold medals in 2008, 2012 and 2016.
The two coaches are first and second, respectively, in all-time D-I men's basketball wins -- Coach K retiring with 1,202 and Boeheim with 1,012.

Scheyer Sets ACC Record for Longest Home Winning Streak by First-Year ACC Coach

Duke has opened the season winning its first 13 home games, as head coach Jon Scheyer has establish a new ACC record for longest home court winning streak by a first-year head coach, breaking a mark set by North Carolina's Hubert Davis last season. Davis' streak was snapped by Duke's 87-67 win on Feb. 5, 2022.
Duke is the only D-I school nationally with both men's (13-0) and women's (12-0) basketball teams unbeaten at home in 2022-23.

Captain Roach Setting the Tone... Last Eight Games: 13.5 Points / Last Five Games: 15.2 Points

Junior captain Jeremy Roach, Duke's only returning player that saw significant playing time from last year's Final Four run, scored a team-high 16 points in last Saturday's game at No. 8 Virginia -- 12 points coming in the first half on 5-of-7 shooting.
The junior from Leesburg, Va., is on pace for a career scoring year with his 12.5 average that is second on the team.
In the win over Carolina, Roach set the tone early -- scoring the Blue Devils' first five points of the game -- and sealed the victory by scoring Duke's final four points and eight of the team's final 10, helping Duke pull away after the game was tied at 47-47 and again at 57-57.

Filipowski: Only Freshman Nationally Averaging at Least 15 Points and Nine Rebounds

Bouncing back from being held scoreless at Virginia -- and not in double-figure points for just the fourth time this season -- Filipowski poured in 22 points on 9-of-16 shooting in Tuesday's win over Notre Dame.
He ranks 16th in the ACC in scoring (15.1), fifth in rebounding (9.1) and third in double-doubles (11).
With 28 points and 15 boards vs. Pitt on Jan. 11, he became just the third Duke freshman all-time to have at least 28-15 in a game, joining Bagley (four times in 2017-18) and Jabari Parker (once in 2013-14).
Filipowski poured in 29 points, along with 10 rebounds at Virginia Tech.
He has scored in double-figures in 22 times this season, including in each of the first 12 games and in 10 of the last 12 games.
A .766 free throw shooter (98-of-128 this season), Filipowski knocked down the game winners at Boston College in the closing seconds and is 18-of-24 (.750) this season at the line in the game's final five minutes.

Filipowski Awards Watch

Now with seven ACC Rookie of the Week honors, Filipowski is tied with former Blue Devil Marvin Bagley III for the sixth most in a season in conference history -- the ACC record of 10 is held by Duke's Jabari Parker (2014), UNC's Tyler Hansbrough (2006) and GT's Kenny Anderson (1990).
In ACC history, the six previous players to win seven or more Rookie of the Week awards went on to be named ACC Rookie of the Year.
He is one of just two freshman on the 20-player late-season watch list for the John R. Wooden Award, joining Alabama's Brandon Miller, and is among final 10 for the Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award. He is also on the mid-season lists for the Oscar Robertson and Naismith Awards.

(Don't) Meet Him at the Rim

A calf injury held 7-foot-1 freshman Dereck Lively II out for much of the preseason, but the No. 1 recruit in this year's class and the preseason ACC Rookie of the Year is second in the conference and 15th nationally in blocked shots (2.3). The versatile big, who has the skill and quickness to guard all five positions, has emerged as one of the best rim protectors nationally.
As a team, Duke is third in the ACC in blocked shots and 31st nationally in blocked shots (4.7).
With Lively on the floor, opponents are shooting .453 on field goals at the rim -- that percentage jumps to .532 without Lively on the floor.
In a three-game stretch in early February versus Wake Forest, Miami and North Carolina, opponents were 3-of-28 (.107) shooting and blocked 17 times with Lively as the primary defender.
Lively has swatted 27 shots over the last eight games. He has at least one block in 22 of his 24 games, 13 games with multiple blocks, seven games with 3+ and four games with 5+.
His eight blocks last the Feb. 6th win over North Carolina were the most by a Duke player all-time vs. UNC, the second most by a Duke freshman in any game all-time and the second most by any Division-I player this season behind nine from Indiana's Trayce Jackson-Davis vs. Kansas in December.
Lively's eight rejections were two shy of Duke's single-game record for blocked shots (set by Cherokee Parks and Shelden Williams) and one shy of Mike Gminski's freshmen mark.
He also matched a career high in points at Miami with 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting to go with six boards and five blocks.

Duke One Shy of 700th ACC Regular Season

Duke enters Saturday's game with a 699-346 all-time record in ACC regular season games, the second most wins all-time.
No team has been better over the ACC's recent history as both Duke's 410 wins since the start of the 1989-90 season and 179 victories since the start of 2009-10 are more than any team in the league.
The Blue Devils are the reigning ACC regular season champions, having gone 16-4 in the conference last season.

Duke's Three-Point Streak

Duke has connected on at least one three-pointer in 1,179 straight games, the second-longest streak nationally.
It has been more than 30 years since Duke was held without a three-point field goal -- Dec. 30, 1989, versus Hawai'i.

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