Upcoming Event: Men's Basketball versus Countdown to Craziness on October 3, 2025 at 7 p.m.
/
7 p.m.
Men's Basketball
vs Countdown to Craziness
.png&width=24&height=24&type=webp)
Saturday, March 15
Charlotte, N.C.
8:30 p.m.
Duke University
vs
Louisville
Photo by: ACC/Andy Hancock
No. 1 Duke Faces No. 13 Louisville in ACC Tournament Title Game
3/15/2025 1:34:00 PM | 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".
 Â
#GoDuke
Â
Â
- No. 1-ranked and top-seeded Duke will play in the ACC Tournament championship game against No. 13 Louisville on Saturday, March 15. The Blue Devils (30-3) will face the Cardinals (27-6), tipping off at 8:30 p.m., on ESPN.
- Dave O'Brien, Dick Vitale, Cory Alexander and Angel Gray will call the action on ESPN. David Shumate and John Roth team up for the broadcast on the Blue Devil Sports Network.
- Duke owns the second-highest net rating (38.09) in the history of KenPom (since 1996-97 season). Only the 1998-99 Duke Blue Devils have achieved a higher net rating (43.01).
- Saturday is Duke's 36th appearance in the ACC Tournament championship game (22-13).
- The Blue Devils have won 22 ACC Tournament titles - last in 2023.
- Duke has won nine of the last 12 meetings with Louisville, including six straight.
- The Blue Devils have won 26 of their last 27 games since late November, while Louisville has won 21 of its last 22 contests since mid-December - a combined record of 47-2.
- Duke leads the nation in scoring margin (+21.1) and ranks fifth in assist-to-turnover ratio (+1.77), fifth in effective field goal percentage (.574), seventh in field goal percentage defense (.386), seventh in scoring defense (61.9), ninth in rebound margin (+8.4), 14th in scoring offense (83.0), 16th in assists per game (16.9), 20th in three-point percentage (.377), 17th in field goal percentage (.489) and 22nd in three-pointers per game (10.1) - all top marks in the ACC.
- Duke leads the ACC in scoring offense (83.0) and scoring defense (61.9), and could become the first team in ACC history to lead the conference in both categories.
- Duke is the only team in the country ranked among the top-three in both offensive (1st) and defensive (3rd) raw efficiency, according to KenPom.
- Duke is the only Division I team to score 80 points or more per game (83.0) and hold its opponents to fewer than 62 points per game (61.9).
- Duke's 10 conference wins +25 points are the most by any team in a season in ACC history.
- Jon Scheyer's 84 career victories surpass Bill Guthridge (80, North Carolina, 1997-2000) for the most wins by an ACC coach in their first three seasons.
- With 17 points on Friday, Kon Knueppel is averaging 18.1 points in the last seven games, connecting on 45-of-83 (.542) from the field and 19-of-38 (.500) from long range.
- Khaman Maluach has 62 dunks this season, compared to just 53 combined by Duke foes. His 62 slams are the sixth-most by a Blue Devil in a season.
- Top-seeded Duke advanced to the ACC Tournament championship game with a 74-71 win over rival North Carolina on Friday, March 14.
- The Blue Devils (30-3) had five players in double-figures and withstood a second-half rally by the Tar Heels (22-13) to earn Duke's 36th appearance in the conference tournament title game, while moving to 3-0 on the season against its rival.
- Kon Knueppel led Duke with 17 points and was joined in double-figures by four teammates - Khaman Maluach (13), Sion James (12), Patrick Ngongba II (12) and Tyrese Proctor (11).
- Ngongba posted a new career high with his 12 points, shooting a perfect 6-for-6 from the field, while also pulling down three rebounds, dishing two helpers and blocking one shot in 17 minutes.
- Caleb Foster came off the bench to spark a first-half rally, collecting six points, three boards, two steals and an assist in 10 minutes of action before intermission.
- Duke finished the game with 13 assists, led by Knueppel with three. Maluach shot 6-of-8 (.750) from the field, while finishing one rebound shy of a double-double, grabbing a team-high nine boards, while also blocking two shots.
- With the win, Duke improved to 3-0 against North Carolina this season. The Blue Devils have now won three games in a single season versus the Tar Heels four times since 1967 (1987-88, 1998-99, 2001-02).
- Duke advances to the ACC Tournament championship game for the second time inthree season under head coach Jon Scheyer and for the 36th time in program history, entering Saturday with a 22-13 (.629) record with the conference title on the line.
- Saturday will be Duke's fifth trip in the last eight ACC Tournament championship games, posting a 3-1 record in title contests since 2017, and capturing tournament crowns in 2017, 2019 and 2023.
- Duke picked up its 30th win of the season, improving to 30-3 overall for the campaign. Duke has now registered 17 campaigns with at least 30 wins, most recently accomplishing the feat in 2021-22.
- The Blue Devils are now 15-9 against the Tar Heels in the ACC Tournament, including a 9-3 record in the semifinal round, with six wins in seven of those semifinals since 1980.
- Duke is now 23-8 when playing ACC Tournament games in Charlotte, N.C.
- Duke closed the first half with 15 unanswered points, holding North Carolina without a point for the final 5:03 of the opening frame.
- North Carolina's 24 first-half points marked the lowest scoring first half of the Tar Heels' season.
- Duke won the rebounding battle, 34-31, and has finished with a positive margin on the glass in all but seven games this season.
- North Carolina entered the game ranked as the second-highest scoring offense in the conference, averaging 81.1 points per game. Duke's defense limited the Tar Heels to 71 points, 10.1 below their season average.
- North Carolina was held to 3-of-17 (.176) from beyond the arc, its lowest percentage from deep this season.
- Duke head coach Jon Scheyer has achieved a career record of 84-21 after Saturday's victory for a winning percentage of .800.
- Scheyer's 84 victories exceed the standard set by Bill Guthridge (80, North Carolina, 1997-2000) for the most wins by an ACC coach in their first three seasons.
- Saturday will be the second time in Scheyer's three seasons as head coach that he has led the Blue Devils in the ACC Tournament championship game, winning the 2023 conference title during his first campaign.
- Duke is once again one of the top defenses in the country.
- KenPom ranks the Blue Devils as the third-best defense in the nation with a raw defense efficiency rating of 92.9. (as of March 14)
- This season, Duke ranks seventh in the nation in field goal percentage defense (.386) and seventh in scoring defense (61.9) - both top marks in the ACC.
- The 2024-25 Blue Devils are the first Duke team since the 1948-49 season to hold every regular-season opponent to fewer than 80 points.
- Based on EvanMiya's Defensive Bayesian Performance Rating, Duke has six of the top 15 defenders in the ACC: Cooper Flagg (1st), Maliq Brown (2nd), Kon Knueppel (7th), Khaman Maluach (8th), Sion James (9th) and Tyrese Proctor (15th). Flagg ranks as the second-best defender in the nation with a rating of 4.65.
- Duke opponents have committed 33 shot clock violations on the season, compared to just seven by the Blue Devils.
- Last season, the 2023-24 Blue Devils finished 16th in the nation in defense efficiency (95.2), and ranked 28th in the nation in scoring defense, holding opponents to just 66.3 points per game.
- In 2022-23, Jon Scheyer's first season as head coach, Duke finished the season 16th in the nation in defense efficiency (93.9), and ranked 24th in three-point percentage defense (.305), 27th in field goal percentage defense (.406) and 30th in scoring defense (63.6).
- While Duke established itself as an imposing defensive unit early in the season, the Blue Devils have evolved into one of the top-rated offenses in the country.
- The Blue Devils are No. 1 on KenPom's raw offensive efficiency list (124.6), followed by Auburn (121.5) and High Point (121.3).
- Duke also owns the top-rated offense by EvanMiya with an offensive performance rating of 20.6, ahead of Auburn (18.8) and Alabama (18.7). (as of March 14)
- Duke ranks fifth in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.77), fifth in effective field goal percentage (.574), 16th in assists per game (16.9) and 17th in field goal percentage (.489) - all top marks in the ACC.
- In the last seven regular-season games (wins over Stanford, Virginia, Illinois, Miami, Florida State, Wake Forest and North Carolina), Duke is averaging 95.4 points per contest, while shooting 240-of-452 (53.1%) from the field, 81-of-188 (43.1%) from three-point land and 107-of-128 (83.6%) from the free-throw line.
- Against Stanford, Duke averaged 1.68 points per possession, the fourth-highest efficiency against a high-major opponent in the KenPom database (since 1996-97), then 1.31 PPP at Virginia and 1.51 PPP versus Illinois. The offensive rating of 147 during those three games is the best three-game stretch against high-major opponents in KenPom history, topping the previous high of 140 by North Carolina in 2016. (The Athletic)
- The Blue Devils distributed 67 assists with just 17 turnovers during that three-game stretch, for an assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.94.
- Duke moved to the top of both the Associated Press and USA TODAY Coaches top-25 polls on Monday, March 10.
- The No. 1 ranking is the first time the Blue Devils have been positioned atop the Associated Press poll since Nov. 29, 2021.
- Duke has now been ranked as the No. 1 team in the nation for 146 weeks, more than any other program in the country.
- Duke has a record of 11-4 on March 15, including a 5-2 mark in the ACC Tournament, with three of those wins in Charlotte (2019, 2008, 1992).
- The Blue Devils have played in the ACC Tournament championship game twice on this date - a 79-69 win against Florida State at Atlanta in 2009, and a 94-74 victory over North Carolina at Charlotte in 1992.
- Duke has won three straight on March 15 (2019, 2018, 2014).
- The weekly television show, "Duke All-Access with Jon Scheyer," is back for its third season in 2024-25.
- The 30-minute show features Jon Scheyer and his Blue Devils team. Presented in magazine format and produced by John Roth, the show also includes informative player features and behind-the-scenes access to the Duke program.
- A production of Blue Devil Sports Properties from LEARFIELD, the show airs locally on ABC-11 WTVD on Sundays at noon ET and is live streamed on ABC11.com Saturdays at 10 a.m. ET. It is also available regionally across the FanDuel Sports Network on Fridays at 5:30 p.m. ET; and on MASN Saturdays at 8:30 a.m. ET. It can also be viewed via the Duke Athletics YouTube Channel and archived on GoDuke.com.
To stay up to date with Blue Devils men's basketball, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeMBB".
 Â
#GoDuke
Â
Â
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's Basketball
G/F
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
G/F
/ Men's Basketball
C
/ Men's Basketball
C
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballCoach Scheyer Media Availability
Wednesday, September 24
Jon Scheyer Press Conference: Summer 2025
Tuesday, July 08
Duke vs Houston: Press Conference
Sunday, April 06
Duke vs Alabama: East Region Champions Press Conference
Wednesday, April 02
