Duke Plays Mount St. Mary's in First Round of NCAA Tournament

The Opening Tip

No. 1-ranked Duke will play Mount St. Mary's in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday, March 21. The Blue Devils (31-3) will face the Mountaineers (23-12), tipping off at 2:50 p.m., on CBS.
Ian Eagle, Bill Raftery, Grant Hill and Tracy Wolfson will call the action on CBS. David Shumate and John Roth team up for the broadcast on the Blue Devil Sports Network.
Duke owns the second-highest net rating (38.16) in the history of KenPom (since 1996-97 season). Only the 1998-99 Duke Blue Devils have achieved a higher net rating (43.01).
Friday begins Duke's 47th appearance in the NCAA Tournament, entering with records of 122-41 (.748) overall, 54-10 (.844) as a No. 1 seed and a 59-17 (.776) in the East Region.
Duke enters the NCAA Tournament with at least 31 wins for the first time since the 1998-99 season and for just the third time in program history (1998-99, 1985-86).
The Blue Devils have won 27 of their last 28 games since late November, including the nation's fourth-longest current win streak at 11 consecutive victories.
Duke leads the nation in scoring margin (+20.8) and ranks fifth in assist-to-turnover ratio (+1.75), fifth in effective field goal percentage (.574), seventh in field goal percentage defense (.386), seventh in scoring defense (61.9), ninth in rebound margin (+8.1), 15th in scoring offense (82.7), 17th in field goal percentage (.488), 20th in three-point percentage (.377), 23rd in assists per game (16.8) and 22nd in three-pointers per game (10.1) - all top marks in the ACC.
Duke leads the ACC in scoring offense (82.7) 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 (82.7) 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 became the first coach in conference history to win two ACC Tournament championships in his first three seasons as a head coach.
With 18 points on Saturday, Kon Knueppel is averaging 18.1 points in the last nine games, connecting on 51-of-95 (.537) from the field and 19-of-43 (.442) from long range.
Tyrese Proctor made a career-high six three-pointers for a team-best 19 points in ACC Tournament championship game versus Louisville.
Khaman Maluach has 64 dunks this season, compared to just 54 combined by Duke foes. His 64 slams are tied for fifth-most by a Blue Devil in a season.

About Mount St. Mary's

Mount St. Mary's (23-12) defeated American, 83-72, in the NCAA First Four on Wednesday in Dayton, Ohio.
The Mountaineers knocked off Iona to capture the program's first MAAC Tournament title on Saturday.
Friday is the first meeting between Duke and Mount St. Mary's, but the second NCAA Tournament matchup for the Blue Devils against a team from the MAAC, as Duke defeated Iona in the first round of the 2018 postseason in Pittsburgh.
Mount St. Mary's leads the MAAC and is 34th in the nation in field goal percentage defense (40.8%).
Four Mountaineers average double figures in scoring, topped by Dola Adebayo with 13.4 points per game and Dallas Hobbs with 12.7 points per outing.
Jedy Cordilia contributes 10.4 points and a team-high 7.3 rebounds per contest.

Donny Lind is in his first season as head coach, after spending the prior three seasons as an assistant coach at UNC Greensboro.

Duke in the NCAA Tournament

Head coach Jon Scheyer leads Duke into the tournament for the third straight season and has steered the Blue Devils to a top-five seed in each of his first three seasons at the helm of the program.
2025 marks the first one seed for the Blue Devils under Scheyer and is the 15th time in program history that Duke has been tapped as a one seed.
Duke is 122-41 (.748) all-time in the NCAA Tournament, marking the best winning percentage in tournament history by a team with a minimum of 20 games played.
Duke's 122 wins are third-most in the event's history.
The Blue Devils have now been selected to the East Region 20 times – last in 2023 – and hold a 59-17 (.776) record when playing out of the East.
Duke is 54-10 (.844) all-time as a No. 1 seed and is 14-0 all-time versus a No. 16 seed.
Duke's game on Friday in Raleigh marks the program's 41st NCAA Tournament game in the state of North Carolina, with a record of 34-6 (.850).
The winner of Friday's first-round game advances to play the winner of No. 8-seed Mississippi State versus No. 9-seed Baylor on Sunday.
The East Regional semifinal and final will be played at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, on March 27-29.

Last Time Out

Top-seeded and No. 1-ranked Duke took home its 23rd ACC Tournament title on Saturday, March 15, defeating No. 13 Louisville, 73-62, at the Spectrum Center.
Tyrese Proctor drilled a career-high six three-pointers to help lead the Blue Devils (31-3) in a strong second half, which included a defensive effort that limited Louisville to just 24 points following the intermission.
Kon Knueppel was named ACC Tournament MVP, averaging 21 points per game in Duke's three games in Charlotte, while shooting 18-of-37 (.486) from the field overall. Knueppel is the 22nd Duke MVP in ACC Tournament history, the most in league history.
Knueppel was joined on the All-Tournament First Team by his classmate Khaman Maluach and Proctor garnered All-Tournament Second Team recognition.
The Blue Devils have been crowned tournament champions twice in three seasons under head coach Jon Scheyer (2023, 2025).
Scheyer is now 6-1 in the ACC Tournament at the helm of the program.
Saturday marked Duke's fifth trip in the last eight ACC Tournament championship games, posting a 4-1 record in title contests since 2017, with crowns in 2017, 2019, 2023 and 2025.
The 2024-25 Blue Devils captured the ACC Tournament title and the outright regular-season conference championship, the first time a Duke squad has accomplished both since 2005-06.
Both Duke men's and women's basketball took home the ACC Tournament trophy this season, marking the first Duke basketball sweep since the 2010-11 season.
After entering halftime trailing by five, 38-33, Duke held Louisville to just 24 points in the second half, the lowest second-half output by the Cardinals this season and tied for the lowest total in any half for Louisville, matching its first-half effort against West Virginia on Nov. 28.
Louisville shot 55.2% from the field and 41.7% from behind the arc in the first half, but Duke limited the Cardinals to 25.7% shooting from the field and 14.3% from long distance after intermission.
Duke picked up its 31st win of the season, improving to 31-3 overall for the campaign. Since the start of the 2000 season, Duke has now registered 10 campaigns with at least 31 wins.
Duke will enter the NCAA Tournament with at least 31 wins for the first time since the 1998-99 season and for just the third time in program history.
Duke is now 24-8 when playing ACC Tournament games in Charlotte, N.C.
Louisville entered the contest ranked third in the ACC for scoring margin (10.3), with Duke winning the game by 11.
Duke's defense limited the Cardinals to 62 points, 17.1 below their season average of 79.1 points per game.
Proctor averaged 12.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.3 steals per game during the championship run, earning All-Tournament Second Team recognition.
Sion James finished one shy of his season high, scoring 15 points, fueled by a perfect 2-for-2 from deep and 7-for-7 from the free throw line. The graduate also brought in six boards and dished two helpers.
Maluach collected a game-high 10 rebounds, scored eight points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field and rejected two shot attempts.
The freshman center averaged 11.7 points, 9.3 boards and 2.7 blocks per game during the ACC Tournament to earn All-Tournament First Team honors.
Patrick Ngongba II scored seven points and blocked three shots, a new career high.
Isaiah Evans chipped in six points with an assist and a steal.
Mason Gillis posted 23 key minutes off the bench, finishing the game with a plus/minus of +12.

Scheyer Breaks ACC Record for Most Victories in First Three Seasons

Duke head coach Jon Scheyer has achieved a career record of 85-21 after Saturday's ACC championship game victory for a winning percentage of .802.
Scheyer's 85 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.
Scheyer became the first coach in conference history to win two ACC Tournament championships in his first three seasons as a head coach.

Duke Continues to Rank Among Nation's Top Defenses

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 93.1. (as of March 18)
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 16 defenders in the ACC: Cooper Flagg (1st), Maliq Brown (2nd), Kon Knueppel (6th), Sion James (8th), Khaman Maluach (9th) and Tyrese Proctor (16th). Flagg ranks as the second-best defender in the nation with a rating of 4.64.
Duke opponents have committed 33 shot clock violations on the season, compared to just eight 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).

Blue Devils Evolve into One of the Nation's Top Offenses

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 (124.3), followed by High Point (121.3) and Gonzaga (121.2).
Duke also owns the top-rated offense by EvanMiya with an offensive performance rating of 20.6, ahead of Florida (19.1) and Alabama (18.7). (as of March 18)
Duke ranks fifth in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.75), fifth in effective field goal percentage (.574), 17th in field goal percentage (.488) and 23rd in assists per game (16.8) - 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 averaged 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.

Flagg Collecting Accolades and Making History

Duke freshman Cooper Flagg was announced as the ACC Player of the Year and ACC Rookie of the Year, while being named to the All-ACC First Team, ACC All-Defensive Team and ACC All-Rookie Team.
Flagg is a consensus First Team All-American, being named to the All-America First Team by Sporting News, Associated Press (AP), National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA).
The Newport, Maine native is the first consensus First Team All-America selection for Duke since RJ Barrett and Zion Williamson accomplished the feat in 2019.
Flagg is the 22nd all-time Duke player to be named a consensus First Team All-American and his selection is the 25th total in program history - which leads college basketball in the modern era (since 1949). As a freshman, Flagg is the 10th Blue Devil rookie to garner All-America honors.
Flagg was a unanimous first-team selections both to the AP and Sporting News All-America lists.
Flagg collected 18 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals in the season-opener against Maine to become the first freshman in Duke history to have at least 10 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals in their debut.
Flagg was the first Duke player in the last 40 years to amass 50+ points, 25+ rebounds and 10+ assists in his first three career games, per ESPN.
Flagg was voted as the ACC Men's Basketball Player and Rookie of the Week on Nov. 25, becoming the first player to earn both honors in the same week since Feb. 3, 2020, when Duke's Vernon Carey, Jr., accomplished the same feat.
Flagg became the only 17-year-old in NCAA history to register multiple 20-point double-doubles, according to Real Sports.
In Duke's four top-25 matchups, Flagg averaged 21.3 points, 8.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.8 blocks and 1.3 steals per game.
After registering a pair of 20-point double-doubles without committing a turnover against No. 2 Auburn and at Louisville, Flagg was declared the Associated Press and Lute Olson National Player of the Week and the ACC Rookie of the Week (Dec. 9).
Flagg broke the Duke and ACC freshman single-game scoring records with 42 points versus Notre Dame (Jan. 11), becoming the youngest player in NCAA history to have a 40-point game, according to Real Sports.
On Jan. 13, Flagg became the first player in ACC history to sweep the conference weekly awards (player and rookie of the week) three times. He is the fifth player in the history of the league to sweep the conference's weekly awards multiple times in a season, joining four former Blue Devils - Vernon Carey Jr. (2019-20), Zion Williamson (2018-19), Marvin Bagley III (2017-18) and Jabari Parker (2013-14), who each did so twice.
The freshman achieved a perfect 4.0 grade point average during the fall 2024 semester.
Flagg has posted seven double-doubles this season, including four with 20 points or more and two of those against ranked opponents, collecting 26 points and 11 rebounds versus No. 19 Kentucky and 22 points and 11 caroms against No. 2 Auburn.
Flagg has been voted as the ACC Rookie of the Week a record 12 times (Nov. 18, Nov. 25, Dec. 9, Dec. 23, Jan. 6, Jan. 13, Jan. 20, Jan. 27, Feb. 3, Feb. 17, Feb. 24, March 10) and the ACC Player of the Week five times (Nov. 25, Jan. 6, Jan. 13, Feb. 3, Feb. 24).
Flagg's 12 ACC Rookie of the Week awards are the conference record, passing the standard of 10 honors by Kenny Anderson of Georgia Tech (1990), Tyler Hansbrough of UNC (2006) and Jabari Parker of Duke (2014).
Flagg became the first ACC player to amass 500 points, 100 assists and 30 blocks in the regular season in the last 25 years, reaching those numbers in 26 games (at Virginia).
Flagg, who turned 18 years old on Dec. 21, currently leads Duke in points (18.9), rebounds (7.5), assists (4.1), steals (1.5) and blocked shots (1.3).
Flagg is the only player to rank among the ACC's top-10 in all five major statistical categories - scoring (3rd), rebounding (9th), assists (8th), blocked shots (9th) and steals (10th).
Flagg is the fourth-highest rated player in the history of the KenPom Player of the Year Standings (since 2011) with a rating of 2.582, trailing Frank Kaminsky of Wisconsin in 2015 (2.794), Zach Edey of Purdue in 2024 (2.699) and Russ Smith of Louisville in 2013 (2.636).
Flagg currently leads the KenPom Player of the Year Standings with a 2.582 rating, ahead of Auburn's Johni Broome (2.347) and Walter Clayton of Florida (1.553).
Flagg is the top-rated player by EvanMiya with a combined offensive and defensive rating of 10.66, compared to Johni Broome of Auburn, who is second with a 9.74 rating.
Flagg is rated as the No. 1 defender in the ACC and second nationally by EvanMiya with a defensive performance rating of 4.64, which is more than a point ahead of the conference's second-highest rated defender.
Flagg has distributed 36 assists with just seven turnovers in his last eight games – a 5.1 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Duke Remains No. 1 in Top-25 Polls

Duke moved to the top of both the Associated Press and USA TODAY Coaches top-25 polls on March 10, and remained in the top spot on March 17 after winning three games in Charlotte to capture the ACC Tournament title.
The No. 1 ranking on March 10 was 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 147 weeks, more than any other program in the country.

On This Date

Duke is 5-3 all-time when playing on March 21, all NCAA Tournament contests.
Duke last played on this date in 2014, a 78-71 setback against Mercer in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Raleigh.
The Blue Devils' first contest on this date was in the 1964 NCAA Final Four, a 98-83 defeat in the national championship game versus No. 1 UCLA in Kansas City, Missouri.

All-Access with Coach Jon Scheyer Debuts

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".

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Duke Plays Mount St. Mary's in First Round of NCAA Tournament

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Players Mentioned

Maliq Brown

Isaiah Evans

Cooper Flagg

Mason Gillis

Sion James

Kon Knueppel

Khaman Maluach

Patrick Ngongba II

Tyrese Proctor

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Duke Plays Mount St. Mary's in First Round of NCAA Tournament

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Maliq Brown

Isaiah Evans

Cooper Flagg

Mason Gillis

Sion James

Kon Knueppel

Khaman Maluach

Patrick Ngongba II

Tyrese Proctor

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