No. 4 Duke and No. 25 Kansas will play in numerous high-profile games this season, but when the teams meet Tuesday night as part of the Champions Classic in New York, it will be special for the participants.
“It’s what dreams are made of,” Duke guard Caleb Foster said. “It’s what you come to Duke for, so I’m very excited.”
Duke (4-0) will be headed back to the state of New York for the second week in a row after topping Army last Tuesday before returning home to dominate Indiana State on Friday night.
But the game against Kansas (3-1) certainly will have the Blue Devils’ attention.
“It’s going to be a big-time game that we’ll be ready for,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said.
The same holds true for the Jayhawks.
“It’ll be a big boy game,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “They’re good. They’re young again. Somebody asked me if they’re better than last year. And I said, ‘Well, it’s too early to tell, but this early in the season, I think they may execute their stuff better than last year.’”
Kansas will take on a traditional power for the second time this season, with its lone loss at nationally-ranked North Carolina on Nov. 7. The Jayhawks topped visiting Princeton 76-57 on Saturday, boosted by sophomore Flory Bidunga’s career-high 25 points.
Bidunga made 10 of 11 shots from the field in that game, bettering Duke’s Cameron Boozer’s 13-for-16 success rate from Friday night versus the Sycamores.
Boozer racked up 35 points in the Indiana State game, marking the second-most for a Duke freshman in program history. Even with that strong performance, it wasn’t difficult to acknowledge what’s next with a trip to Madison Square Garden.
“Of course, we’re looking forward to it,” Boozer said. “Obviously, Kansas is a great team. They’re great every year. This is my first time (playing) in the Garden. They call it Cameron (Indoor Stadium) North, so I’m excited to have that experience.”
Jayhawks’ highly-touted freshman guard Darryn Peterson has missed the last two games with an ailing hamstring, and his return seems unlikely for the Duke game.
“We’re not, obviously, going to have him … at least for the immediate future,” Self said. “I’m not going to put him out there until he feels well.”
Peterson poured in 22 points against North Carolina on Nov. 7.
“We need to get him where he can explode without the thought in his mind that something negative could happen,” Self said.
Scheyer is impressed with what he has seen from Peterson.
“I know he’s a great player. He’s terrific, he can do everything on the court,” he said. “You see what he’s doing and you see the points he’s putting up.”
Kansas has won the last two matchups with Duke and five of the last six meetings. This will be the first of three consecutive neutral-site meetings with Atlantic Coast Conference opponents for the Jayhawks, with games vs. Notre Dame and Syracuse the following week.
Scheyer said the Blue Devils continue to assess their lineup combinations.
“We’re still working through some of that and that’s part of the evolution of where we’re going,” he said.