Duke’s Kyle Filipowski (30) celebrates after making the basket while being fouled in the second of Duke’s 81-72 victory over Ohio State at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, N.C., Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2022.
ehyman@newsobserver.com
Durham
Duke reaches the end of its non-conference schedule, for the regular season anyway, having accomplished plenty before diving full time into ACC play.
The No. 15 Blue Devils played 11 games over the season’s first 30 days, a busier schedule than any other power conference college team in the country.
Duke (9-2, 1-0 ACC) plays Maryland-Eastern Shore at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday, its final regular-season game against a non-ACC team.
The Blue Devils suffered two losses along the way — 69-64 to Kansas on Nov. 15 in Indianapolis and 75-56 to Purdue on Nov. 27 in Portland, Oregon. Both those teams are among the top 20 in both the NET ratings and KenPom.
On the good side, Duke owns three Quadrant 1 wins, according to the NET ratings that are used by the NCAA tournament committee while determining the bracket in March. Only Purdue had has many Q1 wins through the season’s first month.
Duke’s neutral site wins over Xavier, 71-64 on Nov. 25 in Portland, and Iowa, 74-62 Tuesday night in New York, are both Q1 wins. Xavier (6-3) is No. 44 in the NET while Iowa (6-2) is No. 33. The Blue Devils also beat Ohio State, 81-72, at Cameron on Nov. 30. The Buckeyes (6-2) are at No. 28.
All that said, coach Jon Scheyer and the Blue Devils see their game schedule slow down. Following Saturday’s game with Maryland-Eastern Shore, Duke plays just two games the rest of the month — Dec. 20 at Wake Forest and Dec. 31 at home against Florida State.
With the Blue Devils playing strong defense, allowing just 59 points per game (No. 22 nationally), Scheyer is confident the offense will improve between now and the end of December.
“I think our offense will continue to develop through the course of the season,” Scheyer said. “We’ve had not much practice time so there are some possessions where giving away the ball, whether it be a tough shot we take or turnovers…..But that’s something that I’m really looking forward to — the practice time, building our offense.”
Tipoff time + TV channel for Saturday’s game
The game will start at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday and will air on ACC Network, which is available on major cable and satellite services, like Spectrum, Dish Network and DirecTV.
How to stream Duke vs Maryland-Eastern Shore game online
Are you a cord-cutter?
If your preferred method of watching games involves streaming, there are options for that, too.
ACC Network is available on Sling, fuboTV, Hulu + Live TV, DirecTV Stream and YouTubeTV streaming services.
Game day details: Duke vs. Maryland-Eastern Shore
Teams: Duke Blue Devils (9-2) vs Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawks (3-6)
Where: Cameron Indoor Stadium, Durham
Date: Saturday, Dec. 10
Time: 5:30 p.m.
TV: ACC Network
Betting line: Duke is a 30-point favorite and the over-under total is 132 points.
Series history: This will be the first time Duke and Maryland-Eastern Shore have played a men’s basketball game against one another.
Pregame reading
Steve Wiseman has covered Duke athletics since 2010 for the Durham Herald-Sun and Raleigh News & Observer. He placed second in both beat writing and breaking news in the 2019 Associated Press Sports Editors national contest. Previously, Steve worked for The State (Columbia, SC), Herald-Journal (Spartanburg, S.C.), The Sun Herald (Biloxi, Miss.), Charlotte Observer and Hickory (NC) Daily Record covering beats including the NFL’s Carolina Panthers and New Orleans Saints, University of South Carolina athletics and the S.C. General Assembly. He’s won numerous state-level press association awards. Steve graduated from Illinois State University in 1989.