Duke basketball hopes third team will be a charm, schedules Saturday replacement game
Maybe the third time will be the charm for Duke.
The Blue Devils have once again found a replacement team to play on Saturday at Cameron Indoor Stadium as Elon has agreed to a game.
The Phoenix (3-8) will meet the No. 2-ranked Blue Devils (9-1) at 4 p.m. in a game that will be televised by the ACC Network.
Duke was originally supposed to play Cleveland State on Saturday. But Wednesday morning, Cleveland State pulled out of the game because of positive COVID-19 tests in its program. Duke lined up Loyola (Maryland) on Thursday only to see that team have positive COVID-19 tests on Friday that caused it to cancel its travel plans.
Duke officials said tickets and parking passes to the originally scheduled Cleveland State game will be accepted at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday for the Elon game.
Elon last played on Wednesday, beating Winthrop, 63-61, at home to snap a seven-game losing streak. The Phoenix’s losses include road games at Florida, 74-71, and North Carolina, 80-63.
Elon has also lost neutral site games to West Virginia, 87-68, Mississippi, 74-56, and Temple, 75-58.
Duke played two home games this week, beating South Carolina State, 103-62, on Tuesday night and Appalachian State, 92-67, on Thursday night.
The Elon game will be Duke’s final regular-season nonconference game. The Blue Devils open ACC play at home against Virginia Tech on Wednesday at 9 p.m.
Getting Saturday’s game set up involved some complications for Elon. The Phoenix were scheduled to play Division II Shaw at home on Saturday. That game was canceled to allow Elon to play at Duke instead.
Elon officials said fans who purchased single-game tickets to the Shaw game can either exchange their tickets for tickets to a future home game this season or request a refund. Season-ticket holders will receive an additional ticket to any future home men’s basketball game this season.
It’s fitting the COVID pandemic allowed this Elon at Duke game to come together. The Phoenix were supposed to play Duke at Cameron last season but that Dec. 6, 2020, game was canceled when Elon paused team activities due to virus issues.
Saturday’s game brings Elon coach Mike Schrage back to familiar grounds. Elon’s head coach since April 2019, Schrage was Duke basketball’s academic and recruiting coordinator from 1999-2002 before his stint as director of basketball operations from 2002-08 on Mike Krzyzewski’s staff.
Schrage left Durham to become an assistant coach at Stanford when former Duke player and assistant coach Johnny Dawkins became the Cardinal head coach in 2008. Schrage worked for Dawkins for eight seasons at Stanford.
This story was originally published December 17, 2021 at 3:16 PM.