Duke Hosts Louisville on Big Monday

Monday, February 20

Durham, N.C.

7 p.m.

Duke University

Louisville

Duke Hosts Louisville on Big Monday

2/19/2023 5:53:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Opening Tip

A pair of teams coming off wins on Saturday square off on ESPN's Big Monday at Cameron Indoor Stadium when Duke hosts Louisville.
As a part of ESPN's Big Monday offering, Dave O'Brien and Cory Alexander have the call on TV. On the radio, David Shumate and John Roth broadcast the game on the Blue Devils Sports Network from LEARFIELD.
A match-up of first-year head coaches, Duke's Jon Scheyer and Louisville's Kenny Payne are two of the three active head coaches to win a national championship as both a player and coach. Austin Peay's Nate James (a former Duke player and assistant) is the other.
Duke has won two straight to pull within three games of first place and one game of a top-four spot in the ACC standings with four games remaining in the regular season.
The Blue Devils bottled up Syracuse on Saturday, 77-55, holding the Orange to an ACC low for points, while hitting 13-of-26 from three-point range and assisting on 22 of 30 field goals.
Syracuse became the 23rd team held below its season scoring average by Duke (19-4 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 (64.0), second in three-point field goal defense (.304) and third in field goal defense (.413).
Freshman Kyle Filipowski, the seven-time ACC Rookie of the Week, leads all conference freshmen in rebounding and double-doubles. His 12 double-doubles are the most by any freshman nationally, while his 9.2 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.
Coming off 17 points at Syracuse, junior Jeremy Roach has scored 125 points over his last nine games (13.9) since returning from a toe injury that held him out for three games. Over his last six, he's averaging 15.5, including 21 vs. Wake, 20 vs. UNC and 16 at No. 8 Virginia.
Since returning three games ago from an injury, freshman Dariq Whitehead is averaging 11.0 points, shooting 12-of-21 (.571) from the field and 9-of-14 (.643) from three-point range in that span. He is Duke's best from three-point range both overall (.419) and in ACC play (.490).
The ACC's best rebounding team, Duke is averaging 39.4 boards and has out-rebounded 22 opponents (18-4 in those game). Duke is 14-4 when leading in offensive rebounding.

On This Date: Feb. 20

Duke is 21-13 when playing on Feb. 20 and has won nine of the last 13 on this date.
Duke last played on this date in 2021 -- a 66-65 win over No. 7 Virginia at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Duke and Louisville have met once previously on this date -- the Cards winning 71-64 in 2016 at the KFC Yum! Center.

Series Notes

Monday's game vs. Louisville marks Duke's third Saturday-Monday set in ACC play this season -- no league team has played more.
Duke is 13-9 all-time in ESPN's Big Monday game.
The recent series has been close, with each team winning five times over the last 10 games. Duke leads the all-time series 12-9, but the series is 3-3 in Durham and 4-4 in Louisville.
Duke won last season at the KFC Yum! Center, 74-65, behind 22 points on 5-of-5 three-pointers from AJ Griffin.
Former Duke All-American and assistant coach Nolan Smith is in his first year on the staff at Louisville. Smith's father, the late Derek Smith, won a national championship with the Cardinals as a player in 1980.
Nolan Smith was the ACC Player of the Year for the Blue Devils in 2011 and returned to his alma mater in 2016, spending two seasons as the team's special assistant before his promotion to director of basketball operations & player development in March 2018. He was promoted again in April 2021 to assistant coach.

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.

First-Year Head Coaches Square Off Monday

A match-up of first-year head coaches, Duke's Jon Scheyer and Louisville's Kenny Payne are two of the three active head coaches to win a national championship as both a player and coach. Austin Peay's Nate James (a former Duke player and assistant) is the other.
There are 41 active Division I head coaches that have won a national championship -- either as a head coach, assistant or player -- nine of them have done so while at Duke (Bobby Hurley, Nate James, Scheyer, Tommy Amaker, Kenny Blakney, Chris Collins, Mike Brey, Jeff Capel and Johnny Dawkins).

Blue Devils Allowing 64.0 Points -- Second in ACC and 33rd Nationally in Scoring Defense

Fifteen opponents this season have failed to top 30 percent from behind the arc, as Duke is second in the ACC and is 28th nationally in three-point defense (.304) -- in consecutive games against the ACC's best three-point shooting teams (Virginia and Notre Dame), Duke yielded just 10-of-35 (.286) combined.
Duke has held 23 of the 27 opponents to below their season scoring average -- Duke is 19-4 in those games. Nine scored a then-season low for points, including holding Iowa to a then season-low 62, Xavier to 64 (20 points below its average), Miami to a season-low tying 66 (12 off its scoring average), Georgia Tech to a season-low 43 and North Carolina to a season-low 57 (21 off its average). The Hurricanes' also shot their lowest field goal percentage of the year vs. Duke (.349) in Durham in January.
Syracuse's 55 points in Saturday's 77-55 win marked the Orange's ACC season low -- and 20 points below the team's season scoring average.
Duke's strong defensive numbers come against a schedule rated 21st-toughest versus opponent offenses (per KenPom).
Duke defeated Georgia Tech on the road Jan. 28, 86-43, holding the Yellow Jackets to 18 second-half points and winning by 43 -- Duke's second-largest road ACC win in school history and just the third 40-point ACC road win all-time by the Blue Devils.
The 43 points were tied for the second fewest allowed by Duke in an ACC road game all-time and its fewest allowed since beating Notre Dame, 57-43, last season in South Bend.
The 57 points by UNC were its fewest in Durham since an 82-50 Duke win on Jon Scheyer's Senior Night in 2010.

Bedeviled By Injuries

Duke has played just 12 games all season -- and just four over the last 13 -- with its full complement of scholarship players available. Duke has not lost in regulation in those games (11-1), including wins over Xavier, Iowa, Ohio State, Miami, Notre Dame and Syracuse.
All seven of the setbacks have come in the 15 games that Blue Devils were injured during the game or did not play due to injury or illness.
Freshman Dariq Whitehead sustained a lower leg injury at Virginia Tech on Jan. 23 and missed four consecutive games.
Whitehead began the season on the injured list after sustaining a foot fracture in the preseason and missing the first three games. He was held out of the loss at Wake Forest due to illness.
Classmate Dereck Lively II was also injured in the preseason (calf) -- missing the season opener -- also being held out at Wake (illness).
Junior Jeremy Roach sustained a toe injury on Nov. 27 vs. Purdue, played through the injury for three games before missing the game vs. UMES on Dec. 10. He returned for three more games, then re-aggravated the injury at NC State and missed the next three.
Sophomore Jaylen Blakes sustained a broken nose in practice on Jan. 17 and has played since with a custom-fitted, 3-D printed mask.

Duke's Depth Paying Dividends

Duke leads the ACC in bench scoring this season at 20.7 points per game and eight different Blue Devils have led the team in scoring at least once this season. The Blue Devils are +156 in bench points (558-402) this season.
At the top of Duke's rotation since returning three games ago from a lower leg sprain that held him out for four games, freshman Dariq Whitehead has averaged 11.1 points and shot 12-of-21 (.571) from the field and 9-of-14 (.643) from three-point range in that span. He scored 14 off the bench at Syracuse by hitting a career-best 4-of-6 from behind the arc.
At 10.3 points, Whitehead is third on the team in ACC scoring.
In an overtime loss at No. 8 Virginia on Feb. 11, Whitehead and graduates Ryan Young and Jacob Grandison each gave Duke a spark off the bench, with Whitehead scoring 10 points in his return from a four-game injury absence, Grandison scoring 11 including three three-pointers plus the game-tying three that forced overtime in the final minute and Young pulling down 11 rebounds to go with six points, and three assists.

More On Whitehead's Emergence

Whitehead has reached double figures in points eight times this season, which each coming over his last 11 games played (11.1 points in that span). He averaged just 5.6 points over his first eight games.
Whitehead has made nine of his last 14 (.643), 13 of his last 19 (.694) and 26 of his last 55 (.473) from three-point range and is the Blue Devils leading three-point shooter this season at .419.
In ACC play, he's hitting .490 (25-of-51) from long range, which would lead the league but falls just short of the minimum 2.5 threes per game to qualify (2.3).
Whitehead's 14 points at Syracuse also included three assists and two steals in 19 minutes. His career-high 18 points came at Boston College on Jan. 7.

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.

Duke Wins 700th ACC Regular Season Game

Saturday's win at Syracuse improved the Blue Devils to 700-346 all-time record in ACC regular season games, the second most wins in conference history.
No team has been better over the ACC's recent history as both Duke's 411 wins since the start of the 1989-90 season and 180 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 1,180 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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