No. 4 Duke’s past and future will collide in Tuesday night’s game against Army in West Point, N.Y.
The unusual road trip is a sentimental nod to Mike Krzyzewski’s 42 seasons (1980-2022) as head coach at Duke, and his five seasons (1975-80) as head coach at Army and three seasons (1966-69) as a player there.
Krzyzewski played for legendary coach Bob Knight at West Point. As a coach, Krzyzewski’s impact on Army basketball likely stretches beyond the humble 73-59 mark he compiled there.
Krzyzewski, 78, will be honored with a pregame ceremony on Tuesday.
“We started to have conversations about this game about 2 1/2 years ago,” Scheyer said. “To honor all our veterans on Veterans Day — that’s a special thing — and also to honor Coach K, (who’s) going to come on the trip with us.”
Two games into his career, Duke freshman forward Cameron Boozer already is making his case as a superstar and will lead the Blue Devils on Tuesday.
In this young season, Boozer is averaging 20 points, 10.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game, approaching the highest standards of Duke’s lengthy roster of outstanding freshmen.
Boozer had 25 points and eight rebounds in Saturday’s 95-54 win over Western Carolina. He hit 4 of 9 shots from 3-point range. Boozer’s twin brother, Cayden, notched 14 points, seven rebounds and five assists in the victory and is averaging 8.0, 5.0 and 3.5, respectively, in two games this year.
“Cayden’s first college three was assisted by his brother, and his dad (Duke alum Carlos Boozer) was sitting under the basket,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said. “Are there times you have to remind yourself just how special this dynamic is? Yeah … that may never happen again.”
Duke (2-0) placed four scorers in double figures in the rout, with returnees Patrick Ngongba and Maliq Brown each chipping in 10 points.
“I thought we did some good things, and then there’s a lot we have to clean up,” Scheyer said.
Army (1-1) enters Tuesday’s game off an 83-76 loss to St. Thomas on Saturday. The Black Knights made 11 3-pointers but were unable to rally from a 15-point halftime deficit, never drawing closer than seven points in the second half.
Guards Kevin McCarthy and Jackson Furman each average 16 points a game to lead Army’s offense, and Tate Laczkowski averages a team-high 8.5 rebounds.
Outside of the game, much of the focus will be on Krzyzewski, who after playing and coaching at Army guided Duke to five national titles.
“The way I look at it, he’s kind of the premier alum of Army basketball,” Black Knights coach Kevin Kuwik told The Durham Herald-Sun. “Obviously we’ve had generals and all kinds of successful, accomplished people, but when you talk about basketball and talk about West Point, and what he’s done — this brings his career full circle back to West Point and the lessons he learned.”