No. 12 Duke (27-8) puts its 10-game winning streak on the line Saturday with an NCAA Tournament Second Round game vs. No. 20 Tennessee (24-10) at Amway Center in Orlando.
Duke extended its winning streak to 10, while snapping Oral Roberts’ Division I leading 17-game win streak, with Thursday’s 74-51 victory behind junior Jeremy Roach’s (right) career-high tying 23 points and freshman Dereck Lively II’s 12 rebounds and six blocked shots.
Tennessee is coming off a first round victory over No. 13 seed Louisiana on Thursday, 58-55. The Vols led by as many as 18 points in the second half before fending off a late rally by the Ragin’ Cajuns.
Duke vs Tennessee
- Duke and Tennessee have met 15 times, with Duke leading, 8-7.
- The program’s last met in the 2011 Maui Invitational – a 77-67 Duke victory.
- The only postseason meeting came in 1971 – a 78-64 victory at Madison Square Garden in the NIT.
- Rick Barnes owns a 4-9 career head coaching record vs. Duke.
About Duke
- Duke’s 10-game winning streak is the fourth longest active streak in Division I and the longest by a power conference team. Duke snapped Oral Roberts’ 17-game winning streak, which was the nation’s longest active entering the night.
- Duke held Oral Roberts to 51 points – its second fewest points this season – holding the nation’s sixth best scoring offense to 33 points below its season average of 84.2.
- For the season, Duke has now held 31 of 35 opponents to below their season scoring average and Duke is now 27-4 in games holding an opponent below its season scoring average.
- Junior Jeremy Roach matched his career high with 23 points for the second consecutive game, hitting 9-of-17 from the field with three rebounds, three assists and one steal in 36 minutes. He also scored 23 in Duke’s ACC Tournament title game win over Virginia.
- Finding continuity after a year full of injuries, Duke has played 11 consecutive games with its full complement of players and has started the same lineup in 15 straight – both its longest stretches this season. Duke is 19-1 overall in games with its full roster available.
About Tennessee
- Tennessee and Indiana are the only teams in the field of 68 that have multiple wins over No. 1 seeds, with the Vols having beaten both Kansas and Alabama. The Vols also beat No. 2 seed Texas.
- The Vols are 4-1 this season against teams ranked in the top 15 of the Associated Press Top 25. The Blue Devils are currently ranked No. 12.
- Tennessee leads the nation in 3-point defense (.264) while ranking second in field-goal defense (.370) and third in scoring defense (57.9 ppg). Only five teams have reached the 70-point mark against these Vols. Tennessee is a perfect 21-0 this season when it holds its opponent to fewer than 60 points.
- Senior Santiago Vescovi averages 12.6 points to lead a Vols team that scores 71.4 points per game, but allows just 57.9 – the nation’s third best scoring defense.
- Nine the four games since he returned from a two-game injury absence (ankle), Tyreke Key is averaging 11.0 points per game (compared to 3.0 ppg in the previous three games). Thursday’s win was Key’s 145th career collegiate game, but it was his first-ever NCAA Tournament game. He was Tennessee’s top scorer with 12 points.
How to Watch
Time: 2:40 p.m. (ET)
TV: CBS (Kevin Harlan, Dan Bonner, Stan Van Gundy, Lauren Shehadi)
Stream: March Madness Live
Radio: Blue Devils Sports Network (David Shumate, John Roth)
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