Remarkably little separates KU from Duke in basketball bluebloods’ all-time series
The Kansas Jayhawks men’s basketball team, which has won four of five and five of seven against Duke, will try to creep within one game of the Blue Devils in the all-time series between the bluebloods on Tuesday night in Las Vegas.
The Jayhawks are 1-0 against third-year coach Jon Scheyer after going 5-8 versus Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski. That gives KU a 6-8 overall record in a series dating to 1985.
This year’s Jayhawks will tangle with the Blue Devils in a Vegas Showdown game at 8 p.m. (Central Time) inside T-Mobile Arena. Furman will play Seattle in the second game of the one-day hoops doubleheader about 30 minutes after KU-Duke ends.
Krzyzewski went 2-3 versus Bill Self-led Jayhawk teams and 3-1 against KU squads coached by Roy Williams and Larry Brown.
Scheyer was on Coach K’s staff for four games against Kansas: one Blue Devils win against three losses.
In a wild twist, 12 of these past 14 KU-Duke games were contested on neutral floors. Another neutral-court game will be added to that total Tuesday.
KU went 3-3 versus Coach K in the NCAA Tournament (1-2 in the Final Four); 2-1 in the Champions Classic; 0-1 at the Maui Invitational; 0-1 in the Preseason NIT; and 0-1 inside both Allen Fieldhouse and Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The Jayhawks won the last meeting against Duke 69-64 on Nov. 15, 2022, at the Champions Classic in Indianapolis.
Here’s a look at the 14 games between KU and the Krzyzewski-led Blue Devils, starting with NCAA tournament contests.
April 1, 1991: No. 6 Duke 72, No. 12 Kansas 65, NCAA title game, Indianapolis: This has to be one of Krzyzewski’s biggest wins, considering it marked the first of his five NCAA titles.
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Duke’s Christian Laettner went 12-of-12 from the free throw line and scored 18 points with 10 rebounds, Bill McCaffrey scored 16 points and Bobby Hurley had 12 points and nine assists while playing all 40 minutes.
Grant Hill contributed 10 points and eight boards. KU’s Mark Randall scored 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds while Terry Brown and Adonis Jordan had 16 and 11 points respectively.
Duke won the title after reaching the Final Four four straight seasons and five of six. Duke went on to win the title the following season as well.
April 2, 1988: Kansas 66, No. 5 Duke 59, NCAA Final Four semifinal, Kansas City: KU’s Danny Manning and Milt Newton scored 25 and 20 points respectively. Danny Ferry scored 19 points on 7-of-22 shooting and grabbed 12 rebounds.
KU went on to win the NCAA title in Manning’s senior year and Brown’s fifth and final season as Jayhawk coach.
Chris Piper scored 10 points for KU in a game in which just five Jayhawks scored. Manning had 10 rebounds, while Kevin Pritchard had seven boards, five assists and six points. Kevin Strickland had 10 points for Duke.
March 29, 1986: No. 1 Duke 71, No. 2 Kansas 67, NCAA Final Four semifinal, Dallas: Duke’s Johnny Dawkins scored 24 points. KU’s Ron Kellogg had 24 points on 11-of-15 shooting. Duke’s Danny Ferry scored eight points, while ESPN broadcast legend Jay Bilas had seven points. Dave Henderson scored 13 points and Mark Alarie 12 for Duke.
Calvin Thompson and Archie Marshall scored 13 points apiece, while point guard Cedric Hunter had eight rebounds, five points and three assists for KU.
Duke hit 21 of 30 free throws to KU’s 9 of 12.
KU freshman Manning scored four points before fouling out in the battle of No. 1 vs. No. 2. The Jayhawks finished that season 35-4 with two losses coming to Duke.
March 25, 2018: No. 4 Kansas 85, No. 9 Duke 81, OT, NCAA Tournament Elite Eight game, Omaha, Nebraska: KU’s trip to the 2018 Final Four was kept alive when Grayson Allen’s last-second shot rolled around the rim and barely missed at the buzzer of regulation, forcing OT. Svi Mykhailiuk’s 22-foot three-pointer had tied the game at :25.9.
Malik Newman led the way with 32 points on 8-of-19 shooting (5 of 12 threes) with seven rebounds and three steals.
Newman — the most outstanding player of the Midwest Regional — scored 13 points in overtime. His 3 from the corner gave KU an 81-78 lead with 1:47 left. He also hit four free throws down the stretch of OT.
Guards Lagerald Vick (14), Mykhailiuk (11) and Devonté Graham (11) each scored in double figures. For Duke, Trevon Duval had 20 points, Gary Trent 17, Marvin Bagley 16, Allen 12 and Wendell Carter 10.
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March 27, 2003: No. 6 Kansas 69, No. 7 Duke 65, NCAA Tournament Sweet 16, Anaheim, California: KU downed Duke during a season in which the Jayhawks marched all the way to the NCAA title game, falling to Syracuse in Roy Williams’ final game as KU coach.
KU’s Nick Collison scored a career high 33 points on 14-of-22 shooting and grabbed 19 rebounds. Keith Langford scored 13 points with eight boards. Kirk Hinrich scored two points on 1-of-9 shooting.
Duke’s Dahntay Jones scored 23 points, but guard J.J. Redick was held to five points on 2-of-16 shooting.
March 19, 2000: No. 1 Duke 69, Kansas 64, NCAA Tournament second round, Winston-Salem, North Carolina: Shane Battier scored a game-high 21 points and blocked a career-best eight shots while Carlos Boozer scored 15 points with 13 rebounds.
Duke won despite hitting 2 of 17 threes and committing 23 turnovers. KU had 10 shots blocked by the Blue Devils.
The Jayhawks led early, 13-4, and the game was knotted at halftime, 35-35. Boozer made a crucial steal that eventually led to two Chris Carrawell free throws to give Duke a 67-64 lead with 24.7 seconds left. Jason Williams closed the scoring with two free throws. Hinrich led the Jayhawks with 12 points.
Nov. 15, 2016: No. 7 Kansas 77, No. 1 Duke 75, Champions Classic, New York: Frank Mason hit a 12-foot jump shot in front of the free throw line with 1.3 seconds left to break a 75-75 tie and give the No. 7-rated Jayhawks a victory over the top-ranked team in the country.
The Blue Devils tied the game on a three-pointer by Frank Jackson with 15 seconds left. KU called a timeout with 8.2 seconds remaining to set up the game-winning shot for Mason.
Mason finished with 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting with five assists. Duke’s Allen scored 12 points on 4-of-15 shooting.
Josh Jackson scored 15 points and Graham 13 points for KU. Luke Kennard scored 22 points and Amile Jefferson 12, while Matt Jones and Jackson contributed 11 for Duke, which trailed by 12 points (62-50) with eight minutes left.
Nov. 6, 2019: No. 4 Duke 68, No. 3 Kansas 66, Champions Classic, New York: Devon Dotson led all scorers with 17 points on 5-of-9 shooting. He had six of KU’s 26 turnovers. KU had 18 turnovers the first half. Duke had 16 turnovers.
Tre Jones led Duke with 15 points, six rebounds and six assists. Cassius Stanley had 13 points, 11 in the second half.
Trailing 61-59 with 2:29 left, Stanley scored a driving layup and converted an ensuing free throw. Dotson missed a layup on the other end and Jones then hit a jumper at 1:33.
Marcus Garrett put the Jayhawks back within one. After a miss by the Blue Devils, Kansas turned the ball over with 37 seconds left. Jones then converted two free throws with 26.2 seconds left. KU didn’t score until a last-second three by Dotson.
Nov. 23, 2011: No. 6 Duke 68, No. 14 Kansas 61, Maui Invitational final, Lahaina, Hawaii: The Blue Devils improved their all-time record in Maui to 15-0 by overcoming a seven-point second-half deficit in the tourney finale.
KU had led by one point with 1:10 left.
Duke’s Tyler Thornton, who had made just two three-pointers all season entering the game, swished two threes in the final 1:10. His first three erased a 61-60 deficit at 1:10. He then buried another with 20 seconds left.
Tyshawn Taylor led KU with 17 points, but also had 11 turnovers. Thomas Robinson added 16 points and 15 rebounds, while Jeff Withey contributed 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Mason Plumlee and Ryan Kelly scored 17 points and Austin Rivers 10 for the Blue Devils.
Nov. 12, 2013: No. 5 Kansas 94, No. 4 Duke 83, Champions Classic, Chicago: Perry Ellis scored 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds and Andrew Wiggins added 22 points and eight boards in a game closer than the score indicated.
Wayne Selden contributed 15 points with six boards and four assists and Mason had 15 points courtesy of 11-of-12 free-throw shooting.
KU led by two points with just over a minute to play. Wiggins hit a step-back jumper and after an Ellis steal, Wiggins dunked to up the Jayhawks’ lead to six points. Wiggins guarded Duke’s Jabari Parker (27 points on 9-of-18 shooting with nine rebounds) in the second half after Parker burned KU for 19 first-half points.
Jefferson scored 17 points, Rasheed Sulaimon 13, Rodney Hood 11 and Quinn Cook 10 for Duke.
Dec. 1, 1985: No. 3 Duke 92, No. 5 Kansas 86, Preseason NIT title game, New York: Manning had 24 points and eight boards, while Calvin Thompson and Kellogg scored 22 and 20. Duke’s David Henderson led the way with 30 points, while Mark Alarie and Dawkins had 21 and 20. Duke hit 22 of 25 free throws to KU’s 6 of 9.
Feb. 20, 1988: No. 6 Duke 74, Kansas 70, OT, Lawrence, Kansas: The Jayhawks led 23-8, but Duke trailed by just one at halftime. The Jayhawks led by six with three minutes left.
Manning scored 31 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. Quin Snyder and Danny Ferry had 21 and 20 points for Duke. Milt Newton contributed 15 points for KU.
Manning scored five points in the first 45 seconds of overtime to put Kansas on top, 65-60. Manning, who did not score again, never took a shot from the 4:15 mark until he fouled out with 16 seconds left, Duke up 72-68.
At the 52-second mark, Kevin Strickland’s stickback gave Duke a 69-68 lead. Kansas never led or tied again. Snyder, who had half the Devils’ 14 points in the OT, made three of four free throws and reserve center John Smith two of two down the stretch to clinch it.
Feb. 18, 1989: No. 11 Duke 102, Kansas 77, Durham, North Carolina: The Jayhawks dropped their seventh straight game during Roy Williams’ first season as KU coach.
Ferry, who had his jersey number retired that day, scored 26 points and grabbed 10 rebounds on a snowy day. Duke rolled to an 11-2 start and led by 19 at halftime. Duke shot 65 percent from the field and never let KU get closer than 17 points in the second half.
Nov. 15, 2022: No. 6 KU 69, No. 7 Duke 64, Champions Classic, Indianapolis: Jalen Wilson scored 25 points and freshman Gradey Dick scored seven crucial points late to lift the Jayhawks to victory at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
The Jayhawks finished the game on a 15-5 run over the final 4:37 to secure their sixth Champions Classic win in seven appearances. Wilson finished with 11 rebounds as well to notch his second double-double of the season.
Trailing 59-54 with 4:37 to play, Wilson hit a turnaround jumper in the lane to cut it to three with just over four minutes remaining.
The Duke lead was then cut to one at the 2:41 mark when Kevin McCullar scored on a putback to make it 59-58. Kansas then took its first lead since the 9:12 mark when Dick hit the only 3-pointer of the half for Kansas to make it 61-59. Duke answered back with a 3 of its own to retake the lead at 62-61 with 2:02 to play.
Dick scored again off an alley-oop from Dajuan Harristo retake the lead at 63-62 with 1:39 to play. Dick scored again after an offensive foul on Duke to increase the lead to three at 65-62 with 1:04 left.
After a defensive stop, KJ Adams Jr. scored on a layup to make it 67-62 and ice the game for the Jayhawks. Harris posted a career-high 10 assists in the win as well. He became the first Jayhawk with double-digit assists in a game since Devon Dotson had 11 assists on February 8, 2020 at TCU.
