Duke won at Wake without Coach K. Will he return Saturday against NC State at Cameron?
With only seven games left at Cameron Indoor Stadium in his Duke coaching career, Mike Krzyzewski is apparently set to return to the Blue Devils bench this weekend.
After a non-COVID virus rendered him unable to travel to Winston-Salem for No. 8 Duke’s win over Wake Forest Wednesday, Krzyzewski returned to work Thursday and Friday, and is on track to coach the Blue Devils in Saturday’s 2 p.m. ACC game with N.C. State.
“Everything is definitely getting back to normal,” Duke assistant coach Nolan Smith said in a Zoom news conference following Friday’s practice. “He looks great. He’s healthy. He’s energetic and he’s excited for this game.”
Associate head coach Jon Scheyer, who will take over as the team’s head coach when Krzyzewski retires following this season, handled head coaching duties as the Blue Devils beat Wake Forest, 76-64. He and the other assistant coaches ran practice Tuesday in Krzyzewski’s absence, gave the team its final preparations and led the team through the game.
Scheyer said after the game he expected Krzyzewski to be back for Duke’s next game on Saturday. Sure enough, Krzyzewski was back at work on Thursday helping get the Blue Devils (13-2, 3-1 ACC) ready for the Wolfpack (9-8, 2-4 ACC).
“It’s been great to have him back around,” Smith said Friday. “Our team obviously gets a lift of energy when he’s back around. So we’re excited and we’re ready to go.”
This will be Krzyzewski’s final regular-season game against N.C. State, a team that hasn’t defeated the Blue Devils at Cameron with Krzyzewski on the bench since 1988.
The Wolfpack won 77-60 in Durham on Jan. 18, 1995, but that was with assistant coach Pete Gaudet coaching Duke after Krzyzewski took a leave of absence due to back surgery and exhaustion.
On Jan. 23. 2017, N.C. State beat Duke, 84-82, at Cameron Indoor Stadium. But assistant coach Jeff Capel was coaching the Blue Devils when Krzyzewski missed seven games due to back surgery. In addition, the Wolfpack has since vacated that win due to NCAA sanctions from rules violations in the recruitment of Dennis Smith, Jr.
So this is N.C. State’s last chance to hand Krzyzewski a loss on the court that bears his name before he retires.
The Wolfpack enter Saturday’s game after an impressive 79-63 win at Louisville on Wednesday night. Since losing five games in a row, N.C. State has won two of its last three games.
“One thing I told our guys is, if they are foolish to go look at their record and think that they are not good, they are wrong,” Smith said. “They are a much better team than their record. They should have many more wins than they have. So we will come into this game knowing this is a big-time game.”
After losing 76-74 to Miami last Saturday in their most recent home game, the Blue Devils played far better in defeating Wake Forest. Duke used the same starting lineup for its first 14 games, but made a switch by elevating AJ Griffin to a starter’s role against the Demon Deacons. The 6-6 freshman responded with a career-high 22 points.
Griffin and 6-10 freshman Paolo Banchero (17.7 points per game) give Duke two elite scorers. Junior forward Wendell Moore, Jr., has also averaged 15.4 points per game this season to go with 5.8 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game.
N.C. State counters with sophomore Dereon Seabron, a 6-7 guard who’s averaging 19.8 points and 9.6 rebounds per game, and 6-4 freshman guard Terquavion Smith, who has scored 14.4 points per game while hitting 37.4% of his 3-pointers.
This story was originally published January 14, 2022 at 2:10 PM with the headline "Duke won at Wake without Coach K. Will he return Saturday against NC State at Cameron?."