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Duke gets primetime tipoff in Miami when facing Hurricanes on Saturday

By Kevin Connelly

DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - MARCH 02: Tre Jones #3 of the Duke Blue Devils beats Zach Johnson #5 of the Miami Hurricanes off of the dribble during the second half of their game at Cameron Indoor Stadium on March 02, 2019 in Durham, North Carolina. Duke won 87-57. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - MARCH 02: Tre Jones #3 of the Duke Blue Devils beats Zach Johnson #5 of the Miami Hurricanes off of the dribble during the second half of their game at Cameron Indoor Stadium on March 02, 2019 in Durham, North Carolina. Duke won 87-57. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /
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The Duke Basketball team will be on the road to face the Miami Hurricanes on Saturday night and the Blue Devils will have a primetime tipoff in South Beach.

ESPN is officially trying to give some competition to CBS and the NFL Playoffs as the Duke Blue Devils and Miami Hurricanes will tipoff at 8:00pm EST on Saturday night.

Approximately 15 minutes after the Duke and Miami game begins, the New England Patriots and Tennessee Titans will kick off in the second of two NFL Wild Card Playoff Games on Saturday.

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The matchup between the Blue Devils and the Hurricanes will mark the third ACC game of the season for Duke, with the first coming in early December against Virginia Tech and the second happing on Tuesday night in Durham.

When the schedule was released there were three possible times the Blue Devils and Hurricanes could have met, 4:00pm EST, 6:00pm EST, and 8:00pm EST.

ESPN and ABC will broadcast the Buffalo Bills and Houston Texans game at 4:30pm EST on Saturday afternoon and it’s reasonable to believe the network did not want to compete with itself by placing one of the most-watched college basketball teams on its networks with the first NFL Playoff game of the season.

Duke currently has a record of 11-1 and it’s reasonable to expect the No. 2 Blue Devils to improve to 12-1 after its matchup with Boston College at home on Tuesday.

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Miami is 8-3 on the season with a matchup looming on the road against the Clemson Tigers. The Hurricanes lost its first ACC game of the season, which came on Opening Night at home to the Louisville Cardinals.

Duke has won two straight and three of its last four games against Miami and the Blue Devils also won its last game in Coral Gables after losing its past two.

The Blue Devils and the Hurricanes will go to battle in the first game of the new decade for each program on Saturday, January 4 at 8:00pm EST on ESPN.

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