Upcoming Event: Men's Basketball at Tennessee on October 26, 2025 at 7 p.m.
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7 p.m.
Men's Basketball
at Tennessee
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Sunday, October 26
Knoxville, Tenn.
7 p.m.
Duke University
at
Tennessee
Photo by: Duke Athletics
Duke Faces Top-20 Road Test at Tennessee
10/25/2025 7:25:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The Opening Tip
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- Sunday's top-20 exhibition matchup features No. 6 Duke visiting No. 18 Tennessee, tipping off at 7 p.m., on ESPN2.
- In 2024-25, Tennessee posted a 30-8 record and advanced to the Elite Eight for a second straight year.
- The series between the Blue Devils and Volunteers is tied, 8-8.Â
- In the last meeting, Tennessee defeated Duke, 65-52, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Orlando.
- The Blue Devils' last road game at Tennessee was on Dec. 7, 1976, an 81-78 Duke victory.
- Duke enters the 2025-26 campaign coming off its 18th Final Four appearance, 23rd ACC Tournament title and 21st ACC regular-season championship.Â
- The Blue Devils finished 35-4 overall last season, marking the 17th 30-win season in program history.Â
- Duke returns six players from last year, while also welcoming the nation's top-ranked recruiting class, headlined by Preseason ACC Rookie of the Year, Cameron Boozer.
- Among the preseason rankings, the Blue Devils are No. 6 in the Associated Press poll, No. 5 in the coaches poll and No. 10 according to ESPN.
- Isaiah Evans, who led last season's team in 3-point field goal percentage (41.6%), starts his sophomore campaign as a Preseason All-ACC Second Team selection.
- The Volunteers have finished top-four in the SEC in seven of the last eight seasons.
- Rick Barnes enters his 11th season at Tennessee and his 39th as a head coach. During the Barnes era, Tennessee has made seven consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, won at least 25 games six times and earned a top-four NCAA Tournament seed on six occasions.Â
- Nate Ament, a five-star recruit and Preseason Second Team All-SEC selection, is the third top-five rated recruit in Tennessee history.
- Returning 6-11 center Felix Okpara averaged 7.1 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per contest as a starter in all 38 games last season.
- Guard Ja'Kobi Gillespie claimed Third Team All-Big Ten honors last season at Maryland, averaging 14.7 points and 4.8 assists per outing.
- Forward Jaylen Carey is the brother of Duke All-American and 2020 National Freshman of the Year, Vernon Carey, Jr.
- Duke opened exhibition action with a 96-71 victory over UCF on Tuesday, Oct. 21, as the Blue Devils hosted the Knights in their Brotherhood Run, welcoming former Duke star Johnny Dawkins back to Cameron Indoor Stadium.Â
- After entering halftime with a one-point lead, 40-39, the Blue Devils scored 56 points in the second half, while limiting the visitors to just 32, to pull away for the 25-point victory.
- Cameron Boozer led all scorers with 33 points on 12-of-19 shooting, including 4-of-7 from beyond the arc, while adding a game-high 12 rebounds alongside four assists.Â
- Cayden Boozer logged a game-high five assists, chipping in nine points, three rebounds and two steals.Â
- Isaiah Evans, Nikolas Khamenia and Darren Harris joined Cameron Boozer in double figures, scoring 14, 14 and 11, respectively.
- Alongside Cameron Boozer's 12 boards, four other Blue Devils finished with at least six caroms, helping Duke finish with a 54-41 edge on the glass. Khamenia reeled in eight, while Caleb Foster and Patrick Ngongba II both brought in seven apiece. Harris added six rebounds of his own.
- Entering the 2025-26 campaign under fourth-year head coach Jon Scheyer, Duke returns six players from a squad that finished 35-4 overall last season, capturing the program's 23rd ACC Tournament title, 21st ACC regular-season crown and advancing to its 18th Final Four.Â
- The Blue Devils also welcome the nation's No. 1-ranked recruiting class.
- Duke's 2025-26 non-conference lineup features eight opponents that reached the NCAA Tournament a year ago: Texas (Nov. 4; Charlotte, N.C.), Kansas (Nov. 18; New York, N.Y.), Arkansas (Nov. 27; Chicago), Florida (Dec. 2; Durham), Michigan State (Dec. 6; East Lansing, Mich.), Lipscomb (Dec. 16; Durham), Texas Tech (Dec. 20; New York, N.Y.) and Michigan (Feb. 21; Washington, D.C.). Of those teams, five advanced to the Sweet 16, with three reaching the Elite Eight.
- The Blue Devils will play 10 games against teams ranked in ESPN's preseason top 25 - No. 2 Florida, No. 6 Louisville (twice), No. 8 Michigan, No. 11 Texas Tech, No. 12 Arkansas, No. 22 Kansas, No. 24 NC State and No. 25 North Carolina (twice).
- Entering his fourth season as Duke men's basketball head coach, Jon Scheyer guided the 2024-25 Blue Devils to one of the most dominant seasons in program history and the school's 18th Final Four appearance, becoming the youngest head coach to reach the Final Four since 2011.
- Scheyer achieved a record of 89-22 for a winning percentage of .802 in his first three seasons as head coach.
- Scheyer's 89 victories exceed the standard set by Bill Guthridge (80, North Carolina, 1997-2000) for the most wins by an ACC coach in their first three seasons.
- Scheyer's 89 victories ties Brad Underwood and Brad Stevens for the most wins in the first three seasons as a Division I men's basketball head coach.Â
- Scheyer became the first coach in conference history to win two ACC Tournament championships in his first three seasons as a head coach.
- Scheyer, one of four finalists for the Naismith Coach of the Year award, was honored as the recipient of the 2024-25 John McLendon National Coach of the Year Award (presented by College Insider) and was named NABC South Atlantic District Coach of the Year.
- He also became the youngest head coach to reach the Final Four since 2011.
- Scheyer chalked up the most victories by any Duke head coach in their first 100 games, posting 79 victories, which tops Vic Bubas's 76.
- Under Scheyer, Duke posted a 35-4 overall record in 2024-25, joining a rare group as only the sixth team in school history to notch at least 35 wins and the first in a decade to do so. The Blue Devils also captured both the ACC regular-season title (19-1) and the ACC Tournament championship – the 21st and 23rd such titles in program history, respectively – marking Scheyer's second ACC Tournament crown in three years, a first in conference history for a head coach in their opening three seasons.
- Ranked inside the AP Top 25 throughout the 2024-25 campaign, Duke spent two weeks at No. 1 and finished the season No. 3 in the final poll, marking the 41st top-10 finish in school history. The Blue Devils closed the year by winning 31 of their final 33 games, riding impressive win streaks of 16 and 15 games, and storming through the NCAA Tournament with an 86.80 points-per-game average – the second-highest by a Duke team in tournament history (min. five games), behind only the 2001 national champions.
- Scheyer's Blue Devils were a statistical powerhouse, leading the nation in scoring margin (+20.5) and becoming the first team in ACC history to lead the conference in both scoring offense (83.2) and scoring defense (62.8).Â
- Duke also tallied 394 made three-pointers, the second-most in program history, while becoming the only Division I team to both average over 80 points per game (83.2) and allow fewer than 63 (62.8).
- The Blue Devils achieved a KenPom net rating of 39.29, the second-highest in the site's history since 1996-97 – trailing only the 1998-99 Duke squad (43.01).
- The Northbrook, Illinois, native has been integral in the recruiting and development of several young Duke stars since joining the staff in 2013-14, and as head coach has landed the nation's No. 1-ranked recruiting class three times (2022, 2024, 2025) and a No. 2-ranked recruiting class (2023).Â
- Duke has signed a top-three recruiting class per ESPN in every season since Scheyer joined the staff, including the No. 1 class seven times in 12 seasons (2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2022, 2024, 2025).
- With the release of the Associated Press preseason poll on Oct. 13, Duke was ranked No. 6 -- extending a notable streak.
- The Blue Devils have now been ranked in the top 10 at least once in 30 consecutive seasons -- the longest active streak nationally. The next closest program is Kansas, which has held a top-10 ranking at some point in each of the last 20 seasons.
- The No. 6 ranking also marked the 18th consecutive season that the Blue Devils made their debut in the top 10.
- The weekly television show, "Duke All-Access with Jon Scheyer," is back for its fourth season in 2025-26.
- The 30-minute show features Jon Scheyer and his Blue Devils team. Presented in magazine format and produced by John Roth, the show also includes informative player features and behind-the-scenes access to the Duke program.
- A production of Blue Devil Sports Properties from LEARFIELD, the show airs locally on ABC-11 WTVD on Sundays at noon ET and is live streamed on ABC11.com Saturdays at 10 a.m. ET. It is also available regionally across the FanDuel Sports Network on Fridays at 12 p.m. ET; and on MASN Saturdays at 8:30 a.m. ET. It can also be viewed via the Duke Athletics YouTube Channel and archived on GoDuke.com.
To stay up to date with Blue Devils men's basketball, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeMBB".
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#GoDuke
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