The No. 2 Duke Blue Devils will attempt to extend their current winning streak to seven straight games, as they will travel to College Park, Maryland for a matchup against the Maryland Terrapins on Saturday.
After turning back a difficult challenge from rival North Carolina on Wednesday, Duke (22-2, 9-2) will meet Maryland for the second time this season. In the first game between these two teams, the Blue Devils won handily over the Terrapins, 84-64, on January 26. Duke has won 12 of the last 13 games, including six straight by an average margin of 15.4 points.
Maryland (17-7, 5-6) is coming off of a home loss against Virginia on February 10, after compiling two consecutive victories over Wake Forest and Virginia Tech. Since starting the season with a 14-1 record, the Terrapins are just 4-6 in their last 10 games. They are led by sophomore center Alex Len, who averages 12.5 points and 8.0 rebounds per game. In the first meeting against Duke, Len was held to eight points while grabbing 10 rebounds.
Saturday’s game will be televised on ESPN with the tip set for approximately 6:00 PM ET. The game will also be broadcast on the Blue Devil IMG Sports Network (Sirius/XM – 91).
By The Numbers
• The Blue Devils are ranked No. 2 in the AP Poll and No. 1 in the USA Today Coaches Poll. Duke is 114-16 all-time when ranked No. 2 in the AP Poll.
• The Blue Devils have been ranked in the AP Top 10 for 108 consecutive weeks and in the top five for 13 consecutive weeks.
• Duke is playing its 201st straight game as a top-10 team in the AP poll. Duke is 168-32 in that span.
• Duke enters Saturday on a six-game winning streak overall and a three-game winning streak in ACC road games.
• Duke has defeated 19 consecutive unranked opponents.
• Head coach Mike Krzyzewski tied Adolph Rupp for the third-most wins by a coach at one school with 876.
• Duke is one of only two teams in the country ranked in the top five in the AP and Coaches polls, the NCAA RPI and SOS rankings.
• Duke is 5-0 in games that are within one possession inside the final three minutes of the game. Duke has defeated No. 3 Kentucky (75-68), No. 2 Louisville (76-71), No. 4 Ohio State (73-68), Wake Forest (75-70) and Boston College (62-61) in those games, four of which have been on the road or at neutral sites.
• Duke leads the ACC in three-point percentage (.408) and three-point field goals per game (7.6 3pg.). The .408 clip would rank as the third-best in school history.
• Coach K needs just one more win to reach 950 for his career. He is the winningest coach in Division I men’s basketball with 40 more wins than the next closest coach.
Duke-Maryland Series
• Duke leads the all-time series with Maryland 113-61, including a 55-16 mark in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
• Duke is 54-21 against Maryland under Coach K.
• Duke has faced Maryland 174 times, more than any other out-of-state opponent.
• In the regular season, Duke is 100-56 against Maryland. Duke is 12-5 against the Terps in the ACC Tournament and 1-0 in the NCAA Tournament.
• Duke has won six straight games against Maryland and 12 of the last 13 meetings.
• This is the second matchup of the season between the two teams. On Jan. 26, Duke freshman Rasheed Sulaimon scored a career-high 25 points and tied a Duke freshman record with six made three-pointers to lead Duke to an 84-64 win in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Mason Plumlee scored 19 points, and Amile Jefferson had 11 points and nine rebounds.
Duke Player Statistics
• Duke has the most productive starting lineup in the country with an average of 68.0 points per game coming from the starting five.
• The group has combined to account for 86.9 percent of Duke’s total scoring this season, which is the second highest clip in the nation.
• Duke is one of only two teams in the ACC with five players averaging double-digit scoring. Mason Plumlee (18.2 ppg), Seth Curry (16.5), Ryan Kelly (13.4), Quinn Cook (12.0) and Rasheed Sulaimon (11.5) are all averaging more than 10 points per game.
• Seniors Mason Plumlee and Seth Curry combine to average 34.7 points per game while shooting 281-of-537 (.532) from the field. They rank second and third in scoring in the ACC.
• The duo has scored more than 50 points three times with 53 on Dec. 29 against Santa Clara (Curry – 31 pts., Plumlee 22 pts.) 53 on Jan. 5 against Wake Forest (Plumlee 32 pts., Curry 21 pts.) and 51 on Feb. 7 against N.C. State.
• Duke owns a 1.36:1 assist-to-turnover ratio, which would best the school record of 1.32:1 set by the 2000-01 NCAA Championship team.
• Mason Plumlee needs just 16 more rebounds to reach 1,000 for his career. Plumlee would be the eighth Blue Devil to reach that mark and the third with 1,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 150 blocks.
• Duke has three players shooting over 40.0 percent from three-point range: Ryan Kelly (.521, 25-of-48), Quinn Cook (.409, 38-of-93) and Seth Curry (.418, 59-of-141). The only time in school history Duke had three players shoot .400 or better from three-point range (minimum 25 made 3-pointers) was in the 1991-92 season (Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurley, Thomas Hill).
• Sophomore Quinn Cook has emerged as one of the ACC’s best point point guards in his second season. He is averaging 12.0 points, 5.8 assists, 4.1 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game.
By Chad Lykins
