Duke’s nonconference basketball schedule is set. Here’s when Blue Devils open the season
Duke coach Jon Scheyer put together a roster featuring the nation’s No. 1 incoming recruit, Cooper Flagg, and a host of experienced transfers and plans to challenge them with a difficult nonconference schedule.
The Blue Devils’ out-of-conference slate features five teams from power conferences, all of which played in each of the last three NCAA tournaments. Like Duke, they know how to get to March.
Scheyer wants to use these matchups to prepare his talented team to not only get to the NCAA Tournament but to win and advance to the final game.
Duke has three high-profile neutral-site games, beginning with Kentucky in the Champions Classic on Nov. 12 at Atlanta. The Blue Devils face Kansas on Nov. 26 at Las Vegas and will play Illinois on Feb. 22 at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
In addition, the Blue Devils play at Arizona on Nov. 22 and have a home game against Auburn on Dec. 4 as part of the ACC-SEC Challenge.
After having its Countdown to Craziness celebration on Oct. 4 and playing an Oct. 19 exhibition with reigning CIAA champion Lincoln (Pa.), now coached by former N.C. State all-American Julian Hodge, Duke opens the regular season on Nov. 4 at Cameron Indoor Stadium against Maine.
In addition to Maine and Auburn, Duke’s five other nonconference home games are Army (Nov. 8), Wofford (Nov. 16), Seattle (Nov. 29), Incarnate Word (Dec. 10) and George Mason (Dec. 17).
The ACC has yet to finalize dates and TV assignments the league slate for this season, which will be the first with 18 teams after Stanford, California and SMU joined the league this summer. Each team will play 20 ACC games, with 10 at home and 10 on the road.
Duke will play ACC home games with North Carolina, Wake Forest, Miami, Cal, Florida State, N.C. State, Notre Dame, Pitt, Stanford and Virginia Tech. The Blue Devils have ACC road games with North Carolina, Wake Forest, Miami, Boston College, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Louisville, SMU, Syracuse and Virginia.
Including five games against ACC teams that made last year’s NCAA Tournament, Duke has 10 games on this season’s schedule against last spring’s tournament teams.
After going 27-9 in each of Scheyer’s first two seasons as head coach, Duke returns guards Tyrese Proctor and Caleb Foster from last season’s team that made the NCAA tournament’s final eight before losing 76-64 to N.C. State.
The 6-9 Flagg, already projected as the No. 1 pick for next year’s NBA Draft, joins 7-2 Khaman Maluach, 6-7 Kon Knueppel, 6-11 Patrick Ngongba, 6-6 Isaiah Evans and 6-6 Darren Harris as freshmen who comprised the nation’s No. 1-rated recruiting class.
The Blue Devils also added transfers in 6-6 Mason Gillis from Purdue, 6-6 Sion James from Tulane, 6-9 Maliq Brown from Syracuse and 6-6 Cameron Sheffield from Rice.
Duke non-conference basketball schedule
| Date | Team |
| Nov. 4 | Maine |
| Nov. 8 | Army |
| Nov. 12 | Kentucky+ |
| Nov. 16 | Wofford |
| Nov. 22 | at Arizona |
| Nov. 26 | Kansas^ |
| Nov. 29 | Seattle |
| Dec. 4 | Auburn |
| Dec. 10 | Incarnate Word |
| Dec. 17 | George Mason |
| Feb. 22 | Illinois# |
+ -- Champions Classic, State Farm Arena, Atlanta
^ -- Vegas Showdown, T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas
# -- Madison Square Garden, New York