Upcoming Event: Men's Basketball at Tennessee on October 26, 2025 at 7 p.m.
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7 p.m.
Men's Basketball
at Tennessee
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Monday, November 4
Durham, N.C.
7 p.m.
Duke University
vs
Maine
Photo by: Duke Athletics
Duke Opens Season Against Maine on Monday
11/3/2024 11:04:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The Opening Tip
To stay up to date with Blue Devils men's basketball, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeMBB".
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Duke Centennial
In 2024, Duke celebrates its Centennial, marking one hundred years since Trinity College became Duke University. Duke will use this historic milestone to deepen the understanding of its history, inspire pride and strengthen bonds and partnerships, and prepare for a second century of continued excellence and impactful leadership. To learn more, please visit 100.duke.edu
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#GoDuke
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- Duke opens the 2024-25 regular season by hosting Maine on Monday, Nov. 4 at 7 p.m., on the ACC Network.
- Doug Sherman and Chris Spatola will call the action on ACC Network. David Shumate and John Roth team up for the broadcast on the Blue Devil Sports Network.
- Duke is ranked No. 7 in the Associated Press preseason top-25 poll.
- Kon Knueppel averaged a team-best 18.0 points per game during Duke's two exhibition games, shooting 9-for-17 (52.9%) from 3-point range.
- In Duke's two exhibition wins, the Blue Devils shot a combined 75-for-142 (52.8%) from the field, including 32-of-71 (45.1%) from behind the arc.
- Duke and Maine have met on the hardwood just once, a 94-55 Blue Devils' victory on Dec. 3, 2016, in Durham. Luke Kennard scored 35 points in the win, while Amile Jefferson added 20 points.
- The Blue Devils are 92-27 in season-openers and have won 24 in a row to open the season, with its last opening loss coming on Nov. 11, 1999 versus Stanford in overtime.
- Duke has won 42 consecutive home-openers, dating back to Nov. 28, 1981, a double-overtime setback against Vanderbilt.
- The distance between Orono (home of the University of Maine) and Newport (hometown of Duke's Cooper Flagg) is 36.5 miles - about a 35 minute drive on I-95.
- Founded in 1865, the University of Maine is located in Orono and is home to 11,989 undergraduate and graduate students. The Black Bears are members of the America East Conference.
- Chris Markwood, a 2005 graduate of Maine, enters his third season as head coach with an overall record of 28-34.
- During Markwood's first season as head coach, Maine defeated Boston College, 69-64, on Nov. 14, 2022, in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.
- Last season, the Blue Bears posted a 15-17 overall record and a 7-9 conference mark, winning four of their last six contests.Â
- Maine returns nine letterwinners from last season, including four of the team's top five scorers, led by graduate guard Kellen Tynes, who collected 12.6 points, 3.6 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.3 steals per contest in 2023-24.
- Tynes was named America East Defensive Player of the Year and selected to the America East All-Conference Third Team for the second straight year in 2023-24. During the 2022-23 season, the 6-3 guard led the nation in steals with 98.
- Jaden Clayton returns for his third season with the Black Bears as the America East leader in total assists with 247 during the past two seasons, an average of 4.0 helpers per contest.
- Duke returns two starters from last season's Elite Eight squad, junior Tyrese Proctor and sophomore Caleb Foster, while also signing the nation's top-ranked recruiting class and also making four additions through the transfer portal.
- Duke's six-player freshman class includes five top-25 players in 247Sports' rankings, and consists of five-star prospects Cooper Flagg (6-9, G/F, Newport, Maine/Montverde Academy), Isaiah Evans (6-6, G/F, Fayetteville, N.C./North Mecklenburg HS), Kon Knueppel (6-7, G/F, Milwaukee, Wis./Wisconsin Lutheran HS), Patrick Ngongba II (6-11, C, Manassas, Va./Paul VI Catholic) and Khaman Maluach (7-2, C, South Sudan, Africa/NBA Academy Africa), and four-star recruit Darren Harris (6-6, G/F, Herndon, Va./Paul VI Catholic).
- In the transfer portal, Duke added four-star transfers Sion James (6-6, G, Sugar Hill, Ga./Lanier HS/Tulane), Maliq Brown (6-9, F, Culpeper, Va./Blue Ridge HS/Syracuse) and Mason Gillis (6-6, F, New Castle, Ind./New Castle HS/Purdue) along with Cameron Sheffield (6-6, G/F, Alpharetta, Ga./ Chattahoochee HS/Rice).
- Duke welcomes the No. 1 recruiting class of six freshmen, which includes two of the five youngest Division I men's basketball players with Cooper Flagg (12/21/2006) ranking second and Khaman Maluach (9/14/2006) fifth.
- The Blue Devils also boast veteran experience with non-freshmen combining for more than 500 games played (523), 300 starts (324), and 13,000 minutes (13,201), including Mason Gillis with 132 games played and Sion James with 107 starts (ranks 11th among Div. I players entering the season).
- During a six-game stretch (Nov. 12-Dec. 4) before conference action begins, No. 7 Duke plays against four teams that are ranked in the Associated Press preseason top-25 poll (No. 1 Kansas, No. 10 Arizona, No. 11 Auburn and No. 23 Kentucky) and were at least a 4-seed in last season's NCAA Tournament.
- Duke plays three true road games before Christmas for the first time since the 1990-91 season.
- With the release of the Associated Press preseason poll on Oct. 14, Duke was ranked No. 7 -- extending a notable streak.
- The Blue Devils have now been ranked in the top 10 at least once in 29 consecutive seasons -- the longest active streak nationally. The next closest program is Kansas, which has held a top-10 ranking at some point in each of the last 19 seasons.
- The No. 7 ranking also marked the 17th consecutive season that the Blue Devils made their debut in the top 10.
- Former Duke All-American and two-time team captain Jon Scheyer made history with his head-coaching debut in 2022-23, when he became just the third coach in ACC history to win the ACC Tournament in their first season and the first to win an ACC title as both a player (2009, 2010) and as a coach (2023).
- Duke posted 27-9 records in each of Scheyer's first two seasons as head coach.
- The Blue Devils won the ACC Tournament in 2023, and advanced to the Elite Eight in 2024.
- In 2023-24, Duke was ranked inside the top-25 for the entirety of the season, concluding at No. 9 in the final Associated Press poll, an upgrade from the Blue Devils' No. 12 final ranking in 2022-23.Â
- Scheyer led the 2023-24 team to three victories over opponents ranked in the top-25, with wins over No. 18 Michigan State, No. 10 Baylor and No. 2 Houston, and advanced to the NCAA Tournament as a top-five seed for the second straight season.
- Among Duke head coaches in their first two seasons, Scheyer posted the most overall wins (54), most conference wins (29) and the most NCAA Tournament wins (4). Scheyer's overall win percentage (.750) through his first two seasons is the best since Eddie Cameron in 1928-30 (.750/30-10), and his conference win percentage (.725) is the best since Harold Bradley in 1950-52 (.743).
- Scheyer also became Duke's fastest head coach to reach the 50-win milestone, doing so in 65 games, bettering the standard set by Vic Bubas, who hit 50 wins in 69 contests from 1959-62.Â
- In addition, Scheyer is just the third men's basketball head coach in ACC history to lead his program to a conference tournament title and an NCAA Elite Eight appearance in his first two seasons, joining Bill Guthridge (North Carolina, 1998) and fellow Blue Devils coach, Vic Bubas (1960).
- The Northbrook, Illinois, native has been integral in the recruiting and development of several young Duke stars since joining the staff in 2013-14, and as head coach, has landed the nation's No. 1-ranked recruiting class twice (2022 and 2024) and No. 2-ranked recruiting class (2023).Â
- Duke has signed a top-three recruiting class per ESPN in every season since Scheyer joined the staff, including the No. 1 class six times in 11 seasons (2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2022, 2024).
- The third class fully recruited and signed by Jon Scheyer was ranked No. 1 nationally by both ESPN and 247Sports.Â
- It marked the third consecutive top-two class signed by Scheyer after inking the nation's No. 1 class in 2022 for his first season as Duke's head coach.Â
- The class was made up of six players, including five top-25 players in 247Sports' rankings, and consists of five-star prospects Cooper Flagg (No. 1), Khaman Maluach (No. 4), Isaiah Evans (No. 13), Kon Knueppel (No. 18) and Patrick Ngongba II (No. 21), and four-star recruit Darren Harris (No. 40).
- Flagg (Maine), Evans (N.C.), Knueppel (Wisc.) and Harris (Va.) were all named the players of the year in their respective states.
- Duke freshman Cooper Flagg, the No. 1-ranked prospect in the 2024 recruiting class, secured a spot on the 2024-25 Associated Press preseason All-America Team.
- The 6-9 guard/forward was also announced as the Preseason ACC Rookie of the Year and named to the Preseason All-ACC First Team, as chosen by a select media panel.
- Tyrese Proctor returns for his third season at Duke with 68 games played and 59 starts as a Blue Devil.
- Proctor averaged 10.5 points per game and finished with a team-best 118 assists during his second year in Durham.
- He ended his sophomore campaign ranked 25th nationally for assist-turnover ratio, at 2.95.
- Caleb Foster played 27 games with 15 starts as a freshman in 2023-24, before suffering a season-ending ankle injury at Wake Forest on Feb. 24, 2024.
- Foster started three straight games before the injury.
- He averaged 7.7 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.1 assists per contest in 2023-24.
To stay up to date with Blue Devils men's basketball, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeMBB".
Â
Duke Centennial
In 2024, Duke celebrates its Centennial, marking one hundred years since Trinity College became Duke University. Duke will use this historic milestone to deepen the understanding of its history, inspire pride and strengthen bonds and partnerships, and prepare for a second century of continued excellence and impactful leadership. To learn more, please visit 100.duke.edu
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#GoDuke
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