No. 3 Duke aims to continue its unbeaten start to the season on Tuesday night when it hosts Lipscomb in Durham, N.C.
Ten days will have passed since the Blue Devils (10-0) last played, but they are coming off arguably their most impressive victory so far this season, taking down then-No. 7 Michigan State on Dec. 6.
It was another win for Duke in which true freshman Cameron Boozer led the way, piling up 18 points and a career-best 15 rebounds, along with five assists against the Spartans.
Even while not moving a spot in the most recent AP Top 25 poll this week, the Blue Devils did see their grip on the No. 3 spot in the poll weaken a bit. Duke had three first-place votes this week after they had seven in the prior poll.
Boozer is the biggest reason the Blue Devils are held in such high regard. He leads the NCAA in scoring with 23.0 points per game. He’s shooting 55.9 percent from the floor, 37.2 percent from 3-point range and has 9.9 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game.
“We’ve been in a lot of different environments and our team is tough,” said Boozer, who has a career high of 35 points in two separate games this season, including Nov. 27 against Arkansas.
“We stay together. We stay composed. Doesn’t matter about all the rah-rah. Super proud of the guys. We’re going to keep building, keep getting better.”
Duke has now defeated four ranked opponents in nonconference play, one shy of the program record set in the 1991-92 campaign. Three of those have come in their last three games with victories over then-No. 2 Arkansas and then-No. 15 Florida, in addition to the victory over Michigan State.
The Blue Devils’ 10-0 start is their best yet under fourth-year head coach Jon Scheyer.
That victory was also the 99th for Scheyer at Duke. Should the Blue Devils defeat Lipscomb (6-4), he’ll capture No. 100 inside rowdy Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Of course, Scheyer has a long way to go to catch his predecessor, Mike Krzyzewski, the all-time winningest coach in the history of Division I men’s college basketball. Krzyzewski had 1,202 wins in 47 years as a coach at Army and Duke.
“Ten games in, we get a little bit of a pause,” Scheyer said about the recent downtime. “We’ll learn, grow and see how we can continue to get better. Because we don’t want this to be the peak of our season. We’ve got a lot we want to play for still.”
The Bisons, who went to the NCAA Tournament last season for the second time in eight years, have won five straight games heading into their clash with Duke. Most recently, Lipscomb had six players score in double figures as it defeated Alabama A&M 92-58 on Dec. 7.
“I think that we’re going to get a lot better as the season goes along, just because we are so new and relatively inexperienced,” first-year Lipscomb head coach Kevin Carroll said. “But I really do like our team and makeup, the talent on our team.”
Grant Asman leads the Bisons in scoring with 13.7 points per game, while Mateo Esmeraldo averages 10.4 points and 6.6 assists per game. Lipscomb ranks 26th nationally in 3-pointers made per game with 10.9 and 17th in assists with 19.1.
–Field Level Media
