Is Duke worthy of NCAA Tournament No. 1 seed? Blue Devils removed doubts with easy win
A big crowd gathered in the big city to see a show. Duke, and only Duke, delivered Saturday night.
The No. 3 Blue Devils, playing a rare nonconference game so late in the regular season, played offense at a supremely high level to wallop Illinois, 110-67, at Madison Square Garden.
“Just a good, old-fashioned butt kicking,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. “Give them credit. They whipped us in about every facet.”
That the Blue Devils (24-3) are good — really good — this season is well established. The NCAA basketball committee that will pick the teams and set the bracket next month for the tournament listed Duke among the No. 1 seeds in its regular-season bracket peek last week.
But, given the sad state of the ACC with only a few tournament-worthy teams, Duke needed to quash any lingering doubts about its validity to be on the top line.
Consider that done in an overwhelming way.
Seven Blue Devils scored in double figures. The Blue Devils grabbed a 17-point first-half lead with star freshman Cooper Flagg hitting only one shot and scoring six points. They just kept scoring and scoring, even when coach Jon Scheyer emptied his bench, as evidenced by Caleb Foster’s 12 points in seven minutes of play late.
“The consistency of everybody stepping up,” Scheyer said. “I could talk about each one of these guys that played tonight, even the guys at the end with what they did, they played the same way. That’s a standard that we’ve talked about. Just really proud of the effort.”
Underwood pointed out that, because of Duke’s height, length and ability to guard inside, a team has to make 3-pointers to beat the Blue Devils. The Illini shot 2 of 26 on 3-pointers, the worst performance against Duke this season on those shots.
That defense has been the hallmark of this team and Scheyer said the togetherness keeps growing stronger.
“I think the difference is the collective toughness across the board,” Scheyer said. “Each guy, it’s one of the few times as a coach, ever, you’re coaching a team where, when there’s five guys on the floor, there’s an edge on the defensive end, individually, but also the edge they have to be in the right position off the ball.”
But now, as shown on Saturday night, Duke’s offense is proving elite as well. Where Duke is No. 4 nationally in defensive efficiency, according to KenPom.com, the Blue Devils are up to No. 2 in offensive efficiency. Duke is scoring 1.28 points per possession. Only Auburn, at 1.297, is better this season.
The Blue Devils continue to get better, though. Against Illinois, while shooting 55.6% from the field and making 52.2% of their 3-pointers (12 of 23), Duke produced an impressive 1.571 points per possession.
Two games earlier, while beating Stanford 106-70 a week earlier, Duke’s points per possession was a staggering 1.61. Even while scoring far fewer points while beating Virginia, 80-62, last Monday night, Duke’s points per possession was still a healthy 1.31.
The depth of scoring will make Duke incredibly tough to beat when the NCAA Tournament arrives.
Isaiah Evans led the team with 17 points in a reserve role against Illinois, with 10 of them coming in the first half when the game was somewhat competitive. Flagg finished with 16 and Kon Knueppel 15. Every Duke starter reached double figures.
Remember, this wasn’t a game against another ACC team that’s saddled with a losing record. There are currently nine of them, after all. (That’s half the league). This was against a Big Ten team in Illinois (17-11) that entered the night No. 18 in the NET ratings the NCAA committee uses to assess teams.
The Illini, with an equal amount of Quad 1 wins (six) as Duke, will be playing in the NCAA Tournament.
And Duke shellacked them, causing Underwood to say the game was over three minutes into the second half.
That’s the message the Blue Devils sent on an exciting Saturday night in New York City.
It was an emphatic one.
This story was originally published February 23, 2025 at 10:37 AM.