Duke vs. NC Greensboro Preview
Greensboro, NC (AP) – Coach Mike Krzyzewski is one victory away from moving into sole possession of second place on the all-time wins list.
Some of his easiest victories with Duke have come over North Carolina-Greensboro.
Krzyzewski hopes to reach the milestone Wednesday night as the top-ranked Blue Devils look to continue their dominance over the winless Spartans at the Greensboro Coliseum.
Current college basketball odds and oddsmakers from online sports book SBGGLOBAL.com have made Duke 33.5-point spread favorites for Wednesday’s game against NC Greensboro. Current college basketball public betting information shows that 75% of more than 294 bets for this game have been placed on Duke –33.5.
Krzyzewski moved into a tie for second place with Dean Smith at 879 wins with Duke’s 98-72 victory over Elon on Dec. 20. Kyle Singler had a game-high 24 points, while Nolan Smith scored 22 for the Blue Devils (11-0), who have won 21 straight games dating back to last season’s run to the ACC and NCAA tournament titles.
“To be honest, we really haven’t talked about (the records) much,” Singler said. “(Krzyzewski’s)a fiery guy and he puts in our mind to just play for ourselves and play for the team. Whether Coach is breaking records or we’re breaking records, it really doesn’t matter as long as we’re winning each and every game that we play.”
Krzyzewski is now even with the man who led rival North Carolina for 36 seasons before retiring in 1997 as the winningest coach in Division I history. Bobby Knight has since moved atop the list with 902 wins before retiring almost three years ago.
“I know it’s like a milestone,” Krzyzewski said. “But I’m more interested in how we become a better team this year.”
The Blue Devils should look like championship-caliber team against the Spartans, whom they’ve outscored by an average of 37.8 points in winning all eight meetings. Duke cruised to an easy 96-62 win over UNC-Greensboro last season behind a game-high 20 points from Singler.
Duke isn’t the only ranked program that has given the Spartans (0-11) trouble.
UNC-Greensboro has been outscored by an average of 30.5 points in losing all 20 games against Top 25 opponents since the start of the 1996-97 season.
“We’re 0-and-so-and-so, but I’m not going to say we can’t win that game,” freshman Aaron Brackett told the Spartans’ official website. “If we play and execute, we just might beat them and send a message across the country.”
This will be the Blue Devils’ first trip to Greensboro since capturing last season’s ACC tournament title. Duke is 38-9 under Krzyzewski at the Greensboro Coliseum, and has won 11 in a row there since falling to Maryland in the 2004 conference title game.
Although the Blue Devils will be playing their fourth straight game without freshman point guard Kyrie Irving, who is out indefinitely with an injury to his right big toe, they probably won’t be tested much against UNC-Greensboro.
Duke is the third-highest scoring team in the nation, averaging 89.0 points, while the Spartans are the fifth-worst in scoring defense out of 346 Division I schools, allowing an average of 84.4 points. That doesn’t bode well for facing the Blue Devils, who have also won 46 straight over Southern Conference opponents since a two-point loss to Davidson on Dec. 29, 1981.
UNC-Greensboro lost for the 26th time in 27 non-conference games with last Wednesday’s 63-53 defeat to Richmond. Aloysius Henry had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, but also had five turnovers for the Spartans, who committed more turnovers (18) than assists (12) for the 10th time this season.
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