A shift in the schedule might bring heightened attention to No. 9 Duke’s visit to Notre Dame.
Instead of playing on the first day of January, the game was rescheduled for the last day of the month.
Now, the outcome of Monday night’s game at South Bend, Ind., will factor into the top of the Atlantic Coast Conference standings.
The Blue Devils (17-3, 7-2 ACC) will arrive on a three-game winning streak. Notre Dame (14-6, 7-2) has won four in a row. The teams are a half-game behind first-place Miami, so the winner moves into a share of first place.
This will be only the fourth ACC road game for Duke, which won 74-65 on Saturday at Louisville. AJ Griffin racked up 22 points, aided by 5-for-5 shooting on 3-pointers. He’s the first freshman in school history to connect on all of his 3-point attempts in a game with a minimum of five launches.
“He’s had games like this, but they’ve been at home or a neutral site,” coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “He’s just a rising star, he’s not a rising good player, he’s a rising star and all our guys realize that and so the amount of attention that Paolo (Banchero) gets, or Wendell (Moore Jr.), helps him.”
Notre Dame survived Saturday night’s home game for a 69-65 win against Virginia.
It’s the only scheduled meeting of the season between Duke and Notre Dame. So that means there might not be another coaching matchup between Krzyzewski and Notre Dame’s Mike Brey.
Brey is a former Duke assistant coach under Krzyzewski.
“We’ll do something. There’s no question about it,” Brey said of recognizing Krzyzewski’s upcoming retirement. “He hired me when I was a high school assistant in 1987. So, I’m forever grateful for the opportunity.”
Notre Dame has defeated Duke six times with Brey in charge. The Fighting Irish won five of the first six meetings upon joining the ACC before Duke rattled off seven straight wins in the series before losing their last meeting a season ago.
“They’ve thumped us a couple of times,” Brey said. “The times when we have been able to beat their program, it has been great for the credibility of our program.”
The teams split two meetings last season, each team winning on the road.
A Jan. 1 matchup was postponed. At that time, Duke’s team was in COVID protocol.
With the new date, it means students are back on campus at Notre Dame. That could be a formula for a more frenzied environment than would have been in place at the beginning of the month.
“It will be a great atmosphere,” Brey said.
Griffin said he thrived off the road scene in Louisville.
“I loved it. It’s an away game,” he said. “We still had the best fan base in the nation, so them being out there and showing us support. That gives you another confidence boost, knowing you have a fan base behind you.”
Duke pulled in a season-high 20 offensive rebounds in the Louisville game.
Krzyzewski and Brey will honor the late Tom Konchalski during the game by using special coaching clipboards. It’s an effort to raise awareness of the Tom Konchalski Foundation following his death from prostate cancer last February.
“There are basketball gods and they send angels to do their work,” Krzyzewski said. “He was one of them. For Tom, it was never about him. It was about the kids and the game. The game of basketball is better as a result of Tom Konchalski.”
–Field Level Media
