Blue Devils Ready For NCAA First Round Against Oral Roberts

Thursday, March 16

Orlando, Fla.

7:10 p.m.

Duke University

Oral Roberts

Duke men's basketball celebrates after winning the ACC championship

Blue Devils Ready For NCAA First Round Against Oral Roberts

3/14/2023 10:04:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Watch Listen Duke Notes (PDF)Oral Roberts Notes (PDF)2023 NCAA Tournament Bracket (PDF)

Opening Tip

ACC Champion, No. 12 Duke makes its 45th NCAA Tournament appearance when the Blue Devils battle 12th-seeded Oral Roberts on Thursday in a first-round game in Orlando, Fla.
Kevin Harlan, Dan Bonner and Stan Van Gundy are on the call for CBS. Over the air, David Shumate and John Roth have the call for the Blue Devils Sports Network from LEARFIELD, while John Sadak and Will Perdue broadcast the game for Westwood One.
A year removed from reaching the program's 17th Final Four, the Blue Devils own the best winning percentage in NCAA Tournament history at .752 (118-39). Duke's 118 tournament wins rank third all-time and its five championships are fourth most.
Duke and Oral Roberts own two of the nation's longest winning streaks at nine and 17, respectively. Only two other times has Duke entered the NCAA Tournament on longer winning streaks -- 27 consecutive wins entering the 1999 tournament and 16 straight in 1986.
Duke has ushered in the Jon Scheyer era with a priority on defense and rebounding, ranking 20th nationally in rebounding (38.7) and fifth in rebound margin (+8.1); is 32nd nationally in scoring defense (63.9), 24th in three-point defense (.304) and 36th in scoring margin (+8.2).
A finalist for the Joe B. Hall Award for best first-year coach, Scheyer became just the third coach in conference history to win the ACC Tournament in their first season.
Duke has held opponents below their season scoring average 30 times (26-4 in those games) and has out-rebounded 28 opponents (24-4 in those games).
Over Duke's nine-game win streak, the team has posted top-40 offensive numbers nationally in that span for field goal percentage (.492), assists (15.8) and assist/turnover ratio (1.65).
ACC Tournament MVP Kyle Filipowski (right) averaged 19.7 points, shot .667 (24-of-36) from the field and pulled down 7.0 rebounds with two 20-point games and two double-doubles during a monster ACC Tournament. He leads all freshman nationally with 16 double-doubles.
Junior captain Jeremy Roach, the lone returning starter from last year's Final Four team, scored a career-high 23 points in the ACC title game (19 in second half). On pace for a career scoring year at 13.3 points, he is averaging 14.6 points and shooting .473 over the last 16 games.
Finding continuity after a year full of injuries, Duke has played 10 consecutive games with its full complement of players and has started the same lineup in 14 straight -- both its longest stretches this season. Duke is 18-1 overall in games with its full roster available.

On This Date: March 16

Duke is 9-4 all-time when playing on March 16 and has won four of the last six on this date.
Duke last played on this date in 2019 -- a 73-63 win over Florida State in the ACC Tournament championship game in Charlotte.Duke is 8-0 in NCAA Tournament games on this date.

Duke's NCAA Tournament Supremacy; Highest Winning Percentage in Tournament History

With five national titles and 118 tournament wins, Duke is among the most successful programs in NCAA Tournament history.
Since winning the program's first title in 1991, Duke's five titles are the most in the NCAA in this span.
The Blue Devils are making their 45th NCAA Tournament appearance this season -- fifth most in NCAA history.
Duke's 24 consecutive appearances between 1996 and 2019 rank tied for the fourth longest streak in NCAA history.
The Blue Devils have played in 37 of the past 39 NCAA Tournaments that have been contested.
Duke is 118-39 (.752) all-time in the NCAA Tournament, which is No. 1 in winning percentage and third in wins.
The coach with the most wins in NCAA Tournament history (101-31), Mike Krzyzewski retired from coaching last season after reaching the Final Four for the 13th time in his career -- the most by any coach in NCAA history.
Coach K's five titles and .765 tourney win percentage are second to only John Wooden's 10 titles and .825 winning percentage (minimum 50 tournament games).

Duke 58 Wins in the East Region; Other Duke Tournament Notables

This marks the 19th time Duke has been placed in the East Region where the Blue Devils are 58-16 (.783). Duke was last placed in the East Region in 2019.
Eleven of Duke's 17 Final Four appearances have come via the East Regional (2001, 1999, 1992, 1990, 1989, 1988, 1986, 1978, 1966, 1964, 1963).
Duke is playing as a No. 5-seed for just the second time in school history (1987). Since seeding began in 1979, this is just the fourth time Duke has been higher than a No. 4-seed.
Duke is 2-1 all-time when playing as the No. 5-seed and is 5-0 in the tournament vs. No. 12-seeds.
Duke's game Thursday in Orlando marks just the program's second game in the city. The Blue Devils defeated Stetson on Feb. 12, 1990, 102-67, at Amway Arena, which closed in 2010 to make way for the current Amway Center.
The state of Florida has been good to the Blue Devils in NCAA Tournament action, as Duke is 6-2 in tournament games in the state.
Duke last played in Florida in the NCAA Tournament when Scheyer was a senior in 2010 -- winning twice in Jacksonville in the first and second rounds to kick start the team's national championship run.

Scheyer: First to Win ACC Tournament as Player and Head Coach; First Rookie ACC Coach to Go Undefeated at Home

In winning the program's conference record 22nd ACC Tournament title, head coach Jon Scheyer became the first in league's storied history to cut the nets as both a player (2009, 2010) and head coach (2023). Just two others have won the title in their first season as head coach -- Duke's Vic Bubas in 1960 and North Carolina's Bill Guthridge in 1998.
Duke finished its first regular season under Scheyer with a 16-0 home record, as he extended the ACC record for longest home court winning streak by a first-year head coach. The previous mark of 12 was set by North Carolina's Hubert Davis last season. Davis' streak was snapped by Duke's 87-67 win on Feb. 5, 2022.
A finalist for the Joe B. Hall Coach of the Year Award presented to the nation's best first-year head coach, Scheyer is the ACC's first first-year head coach to go undefeated at home all-time and just the sixth in power conferences to do so since at least 1996-97.
Posting a .700 winning percentage in ACC play (14-6), Scheyer became just the fifth first-year ACC coach to go .500 or better in ACC play and just the 19th all-time to go .500 or better.
Entering his first NCAA Tournament as a head coach, Scheyer was 9-3 in the tournament as a player with a national title in 2010, and was 19-6 as an assistant coach with a national title in 2015, Elite Eights in 2018 and 2019 and a Final Four appearance in 2022.

Duke is 18-1 in Games with Full Roster Available

Finding continuity at the end of the season after a year full of disruptions by injury or illness, Duke enters the NCAA Tournament having played 10 consecutive games with its full complement of scholarship players available (9-1 in those games) and having started the same lineup in 14 consecutive games (12-2) -- both its longest stretches of continuity this season.
Duke has played 19 games all season with its full complement available -- having not lost in regulation in those games (18-1), including wins over Xavier, Iowa, Ohio State, Miami (twice), Virginia, NC State, Notre Dame, North Carolina, Syracuse, Louisville, Virginia Tech and Pitt.
Seven of Duke's losses 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.

Notes on Duke's Season-Long Nine-Game Winning Streak

Duke's current nine-game win streak is a season long and tied for second longest by power conference teams entering the NCAA Tournament. The streak is Duke's longest since a nine-game winning streak in 2019-20 season.
All time, this is the seventh Duke team to enter the NCAA Tournament with a winning streak of six or more -- five reached the Final Four, including the 1992 championship team.
The Blue Devils have won these nine by an average of 12.4 points and are averaging 75.3 points, shooting .492 from the field, .364 from three-point range, .789 at the free throw line with 142 assists against 86 turnovers.
Four Blue Devils have averaged double-figure points in the streak -- Kyle Filipowski (17.0), Jeremy Roach (14.9), Mark Mitchell (10.7) and Tyrese Proctor (10.2), with Dereck Lively II (7.6) and Dariq Whitehead (7.3) just behind.
Duke has 142 assists on 242 field goals in the streak -- a 58.7 percent assist rate -- and just 86 turnovers -- 1.65 ratio (15th best nationally in that span) with Proctor at 39 assists and 13 turnovers (3.00-to-1) and Roach at 32 and 19 (1.68-to-1).
As a team, the Blue Devils have converted 131-of-161 (.789) at the free throw line over the last nine wins.

70% Winning Percentage in NBA Arenas

For a college team that has 24 former players on NBA rosters, Duke has been tough to beat when playing in NBA venues.
Duke is a combined 93-33 (.738) all-time in 11 current NBA venues.
The Blue Devils have won 23 of their last 29 at NBA venues, including a 2-2 record this season and 5-1 record last season.
The Blue Devils have not yet played in the Orlando Magics' Amway Center, which is now home for a pair of recent former Blue Devils in the NBA's overall
No. 1 pick last year, Paolo Banchero,and the overall No. 7 pick in 2018, Wendell Carter Jr.

Duke's Three-Point Streak

Duke has connected on at least one three-pointer in 1,187 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.

Blue Devils Out-Dunking Teams 112-58

Duke is out-dunking the opposition 112-58, led by Dereck Lively II's 55 and Mark Mitchell's 24 slams.
Lively is 75-of-114 (.658) from the field with 55 of his 75 career field goals being dunks.
Lively's 55 dunks are sixth most by a Duke freshman in a single season.

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