Duke is 20-7 all-time versus Miami, which includes an 8-5 mark in road games (6-4 at the Watsco Center)…The Blue Devils won last year's meeting at Cameron Indoor, 87-57, behind 19 points from both RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish…In the last trip to Coral Gables, Duke pulled out an 83-75 win on Jan. 15, 2018, rallying from down 13 in the second half as Gary Trent Jr. dropped a game-high 30 points on 6-of-9 from three-point range…The teams have split the last 10 games in the series.
The Opponent
Miami is 9-3 overall and 1-1 in ACC play after dropping an 87-74 decision to Louisville in the season opener and winning an overtime game against Clemson at home - a game in which Chris Likes scored 27 points, shooting 10-16 and 3-6 from 3. The Hurricanes are currently on a 5 game winning streak.
The Canes are top 20 (16th) in the nation in 3 point shooting percentage coming in at 39%. The Canes have a trio of 15 point scorers leading the way with junior guard Chris Lykes averaging 15.9 and 2.8 assists to lead the team, junior Kameron McGusty is right behind Lykes at 15.2 points per game and senior Dejan Vasilijevic is at 15.1 per game and just under 4 rebounds. Junior New Zealand forward Sam Waardenburg leads the Hurricanes in rebounding at 6.3 per game and contributes 6.8 points per game.
Duke
Duke enters the game at Miami on a 6 game winning streak. The Blue Devils come in at 12-1 and 2 & 0 in the ACC.
The Blue Devils have relied heavily on their defense so far this season and are 6th in the nation in blocked shots and 36th in steals.
- Duke has held two consecutive opponents to 50 points or less for the first time since the 2010-11 season -- 83-48 vs. Bradley (Dec. 8) and 84-47 vs. Saint Louis (Dec. 11).
- The Blue Devils are allowing just 60.7 points over their six-game winning streak and the 58.6 points allowed in December were the 23rd-fewest in the nation.
- Four straight foes have scored less than 70 points and three straight have scored less than 60.
- Duke is ranked No. 3 in KenPom’s defensive efficiency, with top-20 ranks in both defensive steal percentage (12.6; 19th) and blocked shots percentage (15.9; 12th) -- one of only four teams nationally in the top 20 for both.
Offensively they are 7th in the nation in points per game, top 50 in assists, and 23rd in offensive rebounding. Duke enters the Miami game leading the nation with a scoring margin of +20.8, including wins in its last three games by an average of 31.0 points.
- Ten of Duke’s 12 wins in 2019-20 have been by 11+ points.
- The 39-point margin in the BC win (88-49) was Duke’s largest in an ACC game since beating Georgia Tech, 110-57, on Jan. 3, 2017 and marked the 23rd time in history Duke won an ACC game by 39+ points.
Vernon Carey Jr. leads the Blue Devils in both scoring and rebounding, nearly averaging a double-double with 17.9 points per game and 9 rebounds. Carey also leads the team in blocks at 2.2 per game. Tre Jones leads the Blue Devils in assists at 7.4 per game, he also averages 14.6 points and a team leading 2 steals per game. Cassius Stanley and Matthew Hurt round out the double figure scorers for the Blue Devils with 11.5 and 10.3 points per game respectively. Hurt scored a career high 25 points last time out versus Boston College.
