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Duke Basketball: Grading the Blue Devils non-conference performances

By Kevin Connelly

DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - DECEMBER 18: Zion Williamson #1 and the Duke Blue Devils bench react to a dunk by the reserves during the second half of their game against the Princeton Tigers at Cameron Indoor Stadium on December 18, 2018 in Durham, North Carolina. Duke won 101-50. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - DECEMBER 18: Zion Williamson #1 and the Duke Blue Devils bench react to a dunk by the reserves during the second half of their game against the Princeton Tigers at Cameron Indoor Stadium on December 18, 2018 in Durham, North Carolina. Duke won 101-50. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /
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As ACC play looms for the Duke Basketball team, it’s time to take a look back at the non-conference part of the schedule and grade the Blue Devils on its overall performance.

There is still one non-conference game left on the schedule on February 2 against the St. John’s Red Storm, but ACC play on the horizon on Saturday night against the Clemson Tigers, it’s time to recap the non-conference slate of the Duke Blue Devils.

The Blue Devils started the season ranked as the No. 4 team in the country, but that quickly changed after a thrashing of then No. 2 Kentucky in the State Farm Champions Classic with the entire world watching.

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Duke then jumped to No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll and handled its business against Army and Eastern Michigan.

With the No. 1 ranking, the Blue Devils headed out to Hawaii for the Maui Invitational and once again soundly beat San Diego State.

The road would get much tougher for Duke as they had to take on then No. 8 Auburn, but despite maintaining a comfortable lead throughout the entire game, the Tigers made it competitive at the end, losing by six points to the Blue Devils.

However, next up for Duke was the matchup everyone wanted to see between the Blue Devils and the then No. 3 Gonzaga Bulldogs.

After looking like a completely different team in the first half and for a majority of the second half, Duke came storming back against Gonzaga only to fall two points short at the buzzer for its first loss of the season.

There was no time for Duke to feel sorry for itself as the Indiana Hoosiers were coming into Cameron Indoor Stadium, but the Blue Devils would turn that game and its next four games into laughers.

After the Indiana victory, Duke throttled Stetson, Hartford, Yale, and Princeton setting up a battle with then No. 12 Texas Tech in Madison Square Garden.

Against the Red Raiders, the Blue Devils shot out of the gates, but Texas Tech would storm back and lead for the majority of the game before Duke had a major run of its own to down Texas Tech by 11 points in The Garden.

Despite starting ACC play this Saturday night, the Blue Devils will wrap up its non-conference slate in February when St. John’s comes to Cameron.

Sitting at 11-1 on the season and are currently the No. 1 team in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll, however the loss against Gonzaga is the only reason Duke does not get a perfect A+ grade.

Against better competition, Duke must find a way to get an early lead and sustain it, unlike what the team did against the Bulldogs and against Texas Tech.

Overall Duke preformed great in its non-conference portion of the schedule and the Blue Devils will look to continue that into ACC play.

NON-CONFERENCE GRADE: A

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