Duke basketball nonconference schedule for 2022-23 season is complete. Here’s a look
Duke’s players are already going through summer practices as Jon Scheyer’s tenure as the Blue Devils head coach begins.
Now, the schedule Duke will face in nonconference play in the first season of the post-Mike Krzyzewski era is complete.
Duke will play last season’s NCAA champion, Kansas, then face Ohio State in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge for the second year in a row. A December game against Iowa, from the Big Ten, is set for New York. Tournament matchups with Gonzaga, Florida or Purdue, are possible for late November.
The team’s annual Countdown to Craziness event, including a scrimmage, is Oct. 21 at 7 p.m. Duke’s lone exhibition game is Nov. 2 at 7 p.m. against Fayetteville State at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
While the ACC has yet to finalize the conference part of the schedule, here are Duke’s nonconference games:
New era begins
Yes Scheyer coached, and won, two games as acting head coach over the past two seasons while Krzyzewski was absent due to health reasons. But those games are part of the retired coach’s NCAA-record 1,202 coaching wins.
Duke’s first regular-season game with Scheyer as its full-time head coach will be Nov. 7 against Jacksonville at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Dolphins were the Atlantic Sun Conference tournament runners-up last season when they went 21-10.
Four nights later, Duke plays its first-ever game against South Carolina-Upstate, also at Cameron.
Meet the champs
Duke will play the reigning NCAA champion Kansas Jayhawks on Nov. 15 at Indianapolis’ Gainbridge Fieldhouse as part of the annual Champions Classic doubleheader. Kentucky and Michigan State will also play that night with ESPN televising both games.
Top CAA, A-Sun teams come to Durham
After the Kansas game, the Blue Devils play two more games at Cameron Indoor over the following week and both are against championship-caliber teams.
Reigning Colonial Athletic Conference champion Delaware is the opponent on Nov. 18. The Blue Hens made the NCAA tournament last March, losing to Villanova in the first round.
On Nov. 21, Duke plays Bellarmine.
The Knights beat Jacksonville in the Atlantic Sun tournament final last March 8 but were ineligible to play in the NCAA tournament because they are transitioning to Division I from Division II.
Duke heads west
The Blue Devils will spend Thanksgiving in the Pacific Northwest playing three games in Portland, Oregon, as part of the Phil Knight Legacy tournament, named for the famed Nike founder.
Duke’s games will be played on Nov. 24 (Thanksgiving), Nov. 25 and Nov. 27. Duke’s first-round game will be against Oregon State at 3 p.m. on Nov. 24. The Blue Devils will play either Xavier or Florida on Nov. 25. The championship game is Nov. 27. The other four teams in the field are Gonzaga, Portland State, Purdue, West Virginia.
Games will be played at either the Moda Center (home of the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers), the adjacent Veterans Memorial Coliseum or at the Chiles Center on the University of Portland’s campus.
Busy stretch
The trip to Portland is part of a challenging stretch for Duke that covers late November and early December.
Remember, Duke plays Bellarmine at home on Nov. 21 before traveling to Portland the following day to get ready for the Phil Knight event, where play wraps up on the Sunday following Thanksgiving (Nov. 27).
Next will be the ACC-Big Ten Challenge with Ohio State coming to Durham to play Duke on Nov. 30. Duke was on the road in last year’s ACC-Big Ten event, losing 71-66 at Ohio State five days after beating Gonzaga, 84-81, in Las Vegas. Cross-country travel wasn’t kind to the Blue Devils then, so that could be a concern again.
The ACC is planning a slate of league games Dec. 2-4, the weekend after the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, so Duke has that weekend available to play a league foe, either at home or on the road.
The Blue Devils follow that up traveling to New York for the Jimmy V Classic on Dec. 6 to play Iowa. The other game in that doubleheader at Madison Square Garden has Texas facing Illinois.
Closing out nonconference slate
Duke’s final nonconference game will be played Dec. 10 at Cameron against Maryland-Eastern Shore.
Who are Duke’s ACC opponents?
The league office finalized and announced home and road opponents for each school earlier this week. Dates, times and television broadcast plans have yet to be finalized by ESPN and will be announced at a later date.
For Duke, its home ACC games will be against Florida State, Louisville, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, UNC, NC State, Wake Forest, Boston College, Miami and Virginia Tech.
The Blue Devils will travel to play road games at Syracuse, Clemson, Virginia, Georgia Tech, UNC, NC State, Wake Forest, Boston College, Miami, Virginia Tech.
So, in a nod to tradition, Duke has home-and-home series with traditional Big Four foes UNC, NC State and Wake Forest this season.
The Blue Devils play single games, at home, with Florida State, Louisville, Notre Dame, and Pittsburgh, while they have single games on the road with Syracuse, Clemson, Virginia and Georgia Tech.
ACC tournament
The next ACC tournament returns to its most frequent home, the Greensboro Coliseum, to determine the league champion. Dates are March 7-11, 2023.
NCAA tournament
After the NCAA tournament begins with First Four games at Dayton, Ohio, on March 14-15, the eight cities where first and second round games will be played March 16 and 18 are Birmingham, Alabama; Des Moines, Iowa; Orlando; and Sacramento, California, and on March 17 and 19 at Greensboro; Albany, New York; Columbus, Ohio; and Denver.
Regional semifinals and finals will be played at Las Vegas (West) and New York (East) on March 23 and 25 as well as Kansas City (Midwest) and Louisville, Kentucky (South) on March 24 and 26.
The Final Four will be played at Houston’s NRG Stadium April 1 and 3.
This story was originally published July 21, 2022 at 11:00 AM with the headline "Duke basketball nonconference schedule for 2022-23 season is complete. Here’s a look."