Blue Devils Take On Hokies in ACC Opener Wednesday

THE OPENING TIP

No. 2 Duke caps a four-game holiday home stand when it welcomes Virginia Tech to Cameron Indoor Stadium for the Blue Devils' ACC opener Wednesday night.
The game tips at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN2 with Dave O'Brien and Jay Bilas on the call. On the radio locally, David Shumate and John Roth call the action on the Blue Devil Sports Network from Learfield.
Duke is 50-18 all-time in ACC openers, including 31-10 in ACC openers under head coach Mike Krzyzewski. The Blue Devils have won three straight and five of their last seven ACC lid lifters.
Junior Wendell Moore Jr., remains the nation's only power conference player -- and one of two players nationally -- averaging 16.0+ points, 5.0+ rebounds, 5.0+ assists and shooting .500+ from the field (16.9/5.6/5.1/.581).
Moore's six 10-5-5 games this year are tied for the NCAA lead and the most among power conference players.
Moore leads the ACC in assists, is second in assist/turnover ratio (+2.83), sixth in scoring, third in field goal pct. and 18th in rebounds.
Duke leads the ACC in field goal percentage (.491, ranked 17th in the NCAA), scoring margin (+21.7, 7th), scoring offense (86.1, 6th), blocked shots (5.2, 34th) and fewest personal fouls (13.5, 19th).
One of the nation's best ball-handling teams, Duke ranks third in the NCAA in assist/turnover ratio (+2.01), seventh in fewest turnovers (9.2), ninth in turnover margin (+6.5) and ninth in assists (18.5).
Trevor Keels is the third different Blue Devil to be named ACC Freshman of the Week this season, earning the honor this week after averaging 14.7 points and shooting .522 from the field in Duke's three victories in five days last week.
Keels' 2.0 steals per game lead the team and rank fourth in the ACC, while his +2.5 assist/turnover ratio is fourth in the league. He is the only Blue Devil with a three-pointer in every game this season.
Sophomore Mark Williams leads the ACC and is ranked 13th in the NCAA with 3.0 blocked shots per game. Williams has swatted multiple shots nine times this season and 19 times in 34 career games.
Freshman AJ Griffin is averaging 11.7 points over Duke's last three games and shooting .632 from the field, .545 from three-point range with 11 rebounds, seven assists and no turnovers in that stretch.

ACC OPENERS
Duke is 50-18 all-time in ACC openers, including 31-10 in the 41 ACC openers under head coach Mike Krzyzewski … Wednesday's game marks just the second time in the past seven seasons that Duke has opened its ACC schedule at home … Duke is 18-4 when opening ACC play at home under Coach K and has won seven straight and 13 of the last 14 ACC openers at home … The Blue Devils have faced the Hokies five times previously to open ACC play, winning at Cameron Indoor on Dec. 4, 2005 with Sean Dockery's 45-footer at the buzzer (77-75) and Jan. 4, 2009 (69-44) and in Blacksburg on Dec. 6, 2019 (77-63) … The Hokies won in Durham in overtime on Jan. 4, 2006 (69-67) and in Blacksburg on Dec. 31, 2016 (89-75).

DUKE VS. VIRGINIA TECH
Wednesday's game is the 62nd meeting between Duke and Virginia Tech, with the Blue Devils leading 50-11 … In Durham, Duke leads the series 21-1 and has won eight consecutive. The Hokies' lone win at Cameron Indoor came in overtime in the ACC opener on Jan. 6, 2007 (69-67) … A freshman has led Duke in scoring in each of the last five games against Virgina Tech, including Jeremy Roach's career-high 22 points last season in Blacksburg on 6-of-14 shooting … Third-year head coach Mike Young spent the previous 17 years as head coach at Wofford, where he was 299-244 and took the Terriers to the NCAA Tournament five times … Young faced Duke just once in his time at Wofford -- an 84-55 Blue Devil win at Cameron Indoor on Dec. 31, 2014.

ABOUT THE HOKIES
Virginia Tech is 8-4 overall and opened its ACC schedule with an 80-61 loss to Wake Forest on Dec. 4 in Blacksburg … The battle-tested Hokies faced Memphis, Xavier, Maryland, Dayton and St. Bonaventure during their non-conference schedule and are coming off an 86-49 rout of the Bonnies on Dec. 17 in Charlotte … Their ninth-ranked defense allows just 56.5 points per game. Opponents are shooting .396 from the field and just .255 from three-point range (No. 8 nationally) … Senior Keve Alluma, who has a pair of double-doubles this season, leads the team in scoring at 14.2 points, while grad student Justyn Mutts pulls down a team-best 7.4 rebounds per game … Junior Hunter Cattoor is making 2.3 three-pointers per game.

OFFENSE IN RHYTHM
Duke is averaging 86.1 points and out-scoring opponents by 21.7 points per game, both lead the ACC and rank top seven nationally … The Blue Devils lead the conference and are top 25 nationally in a number of other offensive categories, including field goal shooting, assists, assist/turnover ratio, turnover margin, fewest turnovers and fewest personal fouls … Additionally, Duke is second in the ACC in made three-pointers per game (8.9) and steals (9.5), third in free throw percentage (.755), and leads the conference in blocks (5.2) … Duke is +11.9 in points-off-turnover scoring per game and has not been out-scored in that category in a game this season.

ON THIS DATE
Duke is 12-3 all-time when playing on Dec. 22, and has won 11 straight on this date (8-0 in the Coach K era) … The Blue Devils are 4-0 at Cameron Indoor … Duke last played on this date in 1998 -- a 71-60 win over Kentucky in a battle of AP No. 2 vs. 3 in East Rutherford, N.J.

VALUING THE BALL
One of the nation's best ball-handling teams, Duke ranks third in the NCAA in assist/turnover ratio (+2.01), seventh in fewest turnovers (9.2), ninth in turnover margin (+6.5) and ninth in assists (18.5) … The Blue Devils have posted a positive assists-to-turnover ratio in each of the last 10 games after starting minus-1 in the opener against Kentucky (eight assists, nine turnovers) … Duke has assisted on at least 44 percent of its field goals in every game since the opener (eight assists, 25 field goals vs. Kentucky) -- and has been 64 percent or better six times this season … Duke is forcing 15.6 turnovers, averaging 9.5 steals and owns a +131 margin in points-off-turnover scoring for the season.

CAMERON INDOOR STADIUM
Duke has posted an all-time record of 923-168 (.846) at Cameron Indoor, including 565-73 (.885) under Coach K … Duke is 258-62 (.806) in ACC regular-season games at Cameron Indoor in the Coach K era … Duke has won more games at its current home venue than any team in college basketball … Now in its 83rd season as the home of the Blue Devils, Duke has averaged 11.1 wins since the venue opened January 6, 1940 -- a 36-27 win over Princeton … The Blue Devils have 18 undefeated home seasons, including 11 under Coach K.

#GoDuke

Blue Devils Take On Hokies in ACC Opener Wednesday

Next Event

Players Mentioned

AJ Griffin

Trevor Keels

Wendell Moore Jr.

Jeremy Roach

Mark Williams

Duke information

Blue Devils Take On Hokies in ACC Opener Wednesday

Next Event

Players Mentioned

AJ Griffin

Trevor Keels

Wendell Moore Jr.

Jeremy Roach

Mark Williams

Related Videos

Duke information