Fresh off a 75-56 loss to then-No. 24 Purdue in the Phil Knight Legacy Tournament Championship Game in Oregon, Duke Basketball returns to Cameron Indoor on Wednesday to face another Big Ten opponent.
The No. 17 Blue Devils (6-2) will host the No. 25 Ohio State (5-1) in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge at 7:15 p.m. on ESPN.
The non-conference game is a rematch from last year when the Buckeyes knocked out No. 1 Duke 71-66 in Columbus. Duke is currently 0-2 against the top 25 teams.
Here’s what you need to know:
Injury concern
Junior guard Jeremy Roach, Duke’s only captain and most experienced starter, injured his right foot in the first half against Purdue and was forced out of the game momentarily before returning in the second half.
After the loss, coach Jon Scheyer called it a toe injury and said medical staff would have to assess Roach further once the team returned to Durham. Roach played 37 minutes against the Boilermakers, but after scoring 10 points in the first half he was limited to four in the second. He had 21 points in the semi-final win over Xavier.
With Roach temporarily sidelined, it was rookie Tyrese Proctor who replaced the Blue Devils. He scored the final four points of the half and added eight more in the second half to finish with a career-high 16 points on 7-of-13 shooting with five rebounds and three assists.
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Buckeyes in Maui
In the program’s first trip to the Maui Invitational in 19 years, the Buckeyes closed the event with a 2-1 record and a fifth-place finish after an 80-73 win over No. 21 Texas Tech.
6-foot-6 freshman forward Brice Sensabaugh was the only Ohio State player to score in double figures in all three tournament games. He had 17 in a loss to San Diego State and a win over Cincinnati while adding 10 against the Red Raiders to finish second with 14.7 ppg. Reserve in each fight, Sensabaugh shot 56.0 percent (14 for 25) from the floor and tied for a team best 58.3 percent (7 for 12) of 3.
It was senior forward Justice Sueing who faced the Red Raiders, scoring 33 points in 31 minutes along with eight rebounds, five assists and two steals.
Lively, Whitehead needs to produce
Derek Lively II and Dariq Whitehead — the No. 1 and No. 2 recruits in the Class of 2022 respectively — had slow starts to their Duke careers after being hampered by offseason injuries.
Lively has four total points in three games at Oregon, and while his 7-1 record is causing problems for opponents defensively, he will need to be more involved on offense.
The same goes for Whitehead. Scheyer has continued to limit his minutes since returning Nov. 18 against Delaware. He hasn’t played more than 17 minutes yet, but he’s averaging just 5.2 points per game and shooting less than 30 percent from the field.
It was another freshman, 7-foot Kyle Filipowski, who emerged as Duke’s top threat. Filipowski averaged almost a double-double with 15.4 points and 9.4 points per game and proved to be a threat inside as well as with his outside shot.
The end of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge
On Monday, the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Southeastern Conference (SEC) announced the roster of the ACC/SEC Challenge for men’s and women’s basketball starting next season.
The creation of this event concludes the annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge which began in 1999.
Does that mean we could have a Duke-Kentucky game at the Cameron Indoor? Time will tell us.
Duke vs. Ohio State score prediction
Duke 68, Ohio State 61: The Blue Devils are 4-0 at Cameron Indoor but will face their toughest home test so far this season against the Buckeyes. Expect Duke to bounce back from a poor shooting performance against Purdue and create enough turnovers to defeat Ohio State.