Duke Basketball: Weekend Blue Devils outperform weekday counterparts

Unless Zion Williamson returns, the most encouraging news for the Duke basketball team leading up to the rematch against UNC may be that the game is on a Saturday.

Weekdays are a grind. Weekends are a party. Sounds familiar to most — especially to those who have experienced every Duke basketball game this season.

So Saturday is the ideal day for the Blue Devils’ revenge opportunity against UNC (at 6 p.m. in Chapel Hill).

Based solely on Duke’s performances this season from Saturdays and Sundays (12 games combined) compared to those from Monday through Thursday (18 combined), the No. 4 Blue Devils (26-4; 14-3 in ACC) should do unto their closest ACC neighbors, the No. 3 Tar Heels (25-5; 15-2 in ACC), what they did unto them on Feb. 20 (a Wednesday):

Steal smiles from the home crowd, then sing and dance the eight miles back home with a double-digit W in tow.

In doing so, the Blue Devils would also wipe the Senior Day grins from the faces of UNC’s Luke Maye, Kenny Williams, and Cam Johnson (the trio combined for 58 of the Tar Heels’ 88 points in the rivalry’s first round).

Wishful thinking?

Not when considering the stat differentials between Duke’s weekends and weekdays.

The weekend Blue Devils have a 12-0 record. The weekday Blue Devils, on the other hand, are just 14-4.
The weekend Blue Devils average more points than their weekday counterparts, 85.9 to 83.7.
The weekend Blue Devils allow fewer points per game, 65.0 to 68.3.
The weekend Blue Devils, therefore, average a higher scoring margin, 20.9 to 15.4.
The weekend Blue Devils average a higher field goal percentage, 50.8 to 46.2.
The weekend Blue Devils average a higher percentage of makes from beyond the arc, 32.6 to 29.8.
The weekend Blue Devils average more steals, 10.5 to 9.1.
The weekend Blue Devils are to credit for the two most improbable wins of the season — home and away against now-No. 2 Virginia.
The weekend Blue Devils are to credit for the team’s two most impressive wins without Zion Williamson — at Syracuse and at home against Miami.
The weekend Blue Devils are to credit — specifically, the weekend Cam Reddish — for the game-winning 3-pointer at now-No. 14 Florida State.

ALSO READ: Top 10 game-winning shots of the Coach K era

As for the 23-point comeback in the final 9:03 at Louisville on a Tuesday, there’s only one plausible explanation: the weekday Blue Devils played like the weekday Blue Devils for the first 30 minutes before channeling their inner weekend warriors for the final stretch.

ALSO READ: Five sweetest comeback wins of the Coach K era

Sure, one could argue that Duke faced its easiest opponent, Stetson, on the weekend — winning by 64 — thereby skewing the above numbers. But the counterargument to that (in addition to the pair of weekend games against UVA) is Duke faced its second easiest opponent, Princeton, on a weekday — winning by 51.

Altogether, the numbers don’t seem to lie: Duke lives for the weekend, specifically Saturdays.

But why?

Maybe it’s because the freshmen-laden Blue Devils have busier schedules throughout the week — making it more difficult to focus during games — and do not have upperclassmen stars with experience dealing with heavy weekday workloads.

Or maybe it’s because a majority of the Blue Devils’ weekday games have come on Mondays or Tuesdays (13 combined), most just a few days or less after the latest Saturday game (11).

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Maybe it doesn’t matter why.

At this point, all that matters is Duke crashing a Senior Day party by putting an end to the Tar Heels’ streak of eight straight wins — all under Roy Williams — in regular season finales when first place in the ACC (either outright or a share) is on the line for UNC.

With or without Williamson in the lineup — coach Mike Krzyzewski said during his press conference Friday that he is “doubtful” to play — the Blue Devils must avoid what would be UNC’s first sweep of Duke in the regular season since 2009, also marking the last time the Blue Devils lost a third consecutive game in the series (two losses in a row, dating back to last season, at the moment).

The Tar Heels opened as 1.5-point favorites.

Next. 10 most memorable wins of the Coach K era. dark

Question: Did Vegas take into account that the game is on a Saturday?

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