Continuing its holiday home stand, No. 2 Duke hosts Appalachian State Thursday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium. With wins over then-No. 1 Gonzaga and No. 10 Kentucky, Duke joins Gonzaga and Seton Hall as the only teams this season with multiple wins over AP top-10 teams.
About Duke
- Duke has been one of the nation’s best ball-handling teams, ranking third in the NCAA in assist/turnover ratio (+1.95), eighth nationally in fewest turnovers (9.3), 13th in turnover margin (+5.8) and ninth in assists per game (18.2) — Duke joins Northwestern as the only teams in the nation to rank in the top 15 in each category.
- Duke is forcing 14.9 turnovers, averaging 9.1 steals and owns a +107 margin in points-off-turnover scoring (176-69).
- Duke (9.3) and App State (9.7) are also ranked eighth and 10th, respectively, in the NCAA in fewest turnovers per game this season.
- The Blue Devils have made 34 more free throws than their opponents have attempted this season (125-91). Duke is committing 13.4 fouls per game — second fewest in the ACC and 17th fewest nationally.
- Junior Wendell Moore Jr., is the nation’s only player averaging 17.0+ points, 6.0+ rebounds, 5.0+ assists and shooting .500+ from the field (17.0/6.0/5.0/.567).
- Freshman Paolo Banchero leads all power conference true freshmen in scoring at 17.1 points. The ACC’s Preseason Player of the Year, Banchero is ranked in the ACC’s top 11 in scoring (17.1, sixth), free throw percentage (.841, fourth) and FG percentage (.495, 11th).
- Sophomore Mark Williams leads the ACC and is ranked 12th in the NCAA with 3.11 blocked shots per game. Williams has swatted multiple shots seven times this season and 17 times in 32 career games. Williams has blocked 20 shots over the last six games, while averaging 12.7 points, 7.7 rebounds and shooting .708 (34-of-48) in that span.
- Freshman Trevor Keels, who is the lone Blue Devils with a three-pointer in every game this season, ranks fourth in the ACC in assist/turnover ratio (+2.50) and fifth in steals (2.0).
About App State
- Appalachian State is 6-5 this season and is coming off a 73-65 defeat at Furman Friday night.
- Senior Adrian Delph is the only Mountaineer averaging in doublefigure points at 16.5 per game, but three others — senior Justin Forrest (9.4), graduate Michael Almonacy (9.4) and junior Donovan Gregory (8.0) are averaging 8.0+ per game.
- Eight of the 15 Mountaineers are either juniors, seniors or graduate students.
- Appalachian State is yielding just 59.4 points per game (18th best scoring defense nationally) and has not allowed an opponent to score more than 75 this season.
- The Mountaineers were 35th in scoring defense last season (64.1).
- Duke and App State are two of the least-fouling teams nationally, with the Blue Devils being whistled for 13.4 fouls per game (17th in the NCAA) and the Mountaineers just 12.9 (seventh fewest).
- Duke (9.3) and App State (9.7) are also ranked eighth and 10th, respectively, in the NCAA in fewest turnovers per game this season.
- Under third-year head coach Dustin Kerns, App State was 17-12 last season, won the Sun Belt Tournament title and made the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2001.
Duke vs App State
- Duke leads the all-time series over Appalachian State, 8-1.
- All nine meeting have come at Cameron Indoor Stadium, with each of the last eight occurring in the Coach K era.
- The teams last met on Nov. 26, 2016 when Grayson Allen scored 21 points in an 83-58 Duke victory in Durham.
How to Watch
Time: 7:00 p.m. (ET)
TV: ESPN2 (Dave O’Brien, Corey Alexander)
Stream: Watch ESPN
Radio: Blue Devils Sports Network (David Shumate, John Roth)
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