Duke is threatening a run that could dominate college basketball for the next four months, but last season’s NCAA Tournament runner-up, Butler, will try to derail the effort today.
The Blue Devils and Bulldogs will meet at 3:15 p.m. (ESPN Ch. 33) at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, N.J., in a rematch of last season’s national-championship game, which Duke won 61-59.
Duke defeated Michigan State on Wednesday in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge and also has wins against Kansas State and Marquette. Nolan Smith sees another motivated opponent that wants to hand top-ranked Duke (7-0) its first loss.
“They’re a team that’s going to have a huge chip on their shoulder,” said Smith, a senior guard. “We have to get the same chip. It can’t just be a game versus the team that we beat last year.
“It can’t be that because they’re going to be looking at us as the Duke Blue Devils, who barely beat them. They’re going to be mad coming into this game, and we have to have the same anger going against them.”
Mike Krzyzewski of Duke needs one win to tie the late Adolph Rupp of Kentucky for No. 3 on the all-time victories list for major-college coaches, at 876.
Also, the game will be a homecoming for Kyrie Irving, Duke’s freshman point guard. He is from nearby West Orange, N.J., and played at St. Patrick’s High in Elizabeth. Irving scored a career-high 31 points in the 84-79 win against Michigan State.
“I’m expecting a little (personal) crowd,” Irving said. “I’m really excited to go back home and play, especially against Butler. They’re a great team, and I know Kyle (Singler, a Duke forward) and Nolan are really excited.
“They had a great game against them last year, so we’re going to go into New Jersey and we’re on a mission.”
Butler (4-2) returned three starters from last season’s team, which won 25 consecutive games to reach the NCAA title game for the first time.
Gone is forward Gordon Hayward, who missed two shots in the final 13.6 seconds that could have given Butler the win. He entered the NBA Draft after two college seasons and was a lottery choice by the Utah Jazz.
Back are Matt Howard, a senior forward; Shelvin Mack, a junior shooting guard, and Ronald Nored, a junior point guard. Howard averages 16 points and 9.7 rebounds, and Mack averages 15.8 points and 5.3 rebounds.
Butler’s losses are to Louisville (88-73) and Evansville (71-68 in overtime at home). Coach Brad Stevens is playing 10 players at least 10 minutes a game.
Krzyzewski wanted to play Butler right after the game against Michigan State to prepare his team for another title run. He said that the games will be nearly identical to the competition Duke could face in the NCAA Tournament.
Singler sees an immediate benefit in Duke playing Butler three days after playing Michigan State.
“We have a lot of things to improve on,” Singler said. “We still need to get better on both ends of the court. That might be hard for people to realize, but within our team and through the coaches, we’ve got a lot of improving to do.”
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