Duke basketball to face one of Jon Scheyer's final foes as player
Late Friday in Portland, Ore., the No. 24 Purdue Boilermakers snagged an 84-66 slight-upset victory over the No. 6 Gonzaga Bulldogs at the Phil Knight Legacy tournament. Earlier in the day, behind a statement effort from its lone captain, junior point guard Jeremy Roach, Duke basketball beat the Xavier Musketeers, 71-64.
The wins by the No. 8 Blue Devils (6-1, 0-0 ACC) and the undefeated Boilermakers (5-0, 0-0 Big Ten) set the stage for their Phil Knight Legacy championship clash at 3:30 p.m. ET Sunday.
Interestingly, the last time the two programs met was their Sweet 16 battle on March 26, 2010, marking the fourth-to-last college game for former four-year Duke combo guard Jon Scheyer, now 35 years old and in his first year as the Blue Devil head coach after serving as an assistant under Mike Krzyzewski for the previous nine seasons.
Scheyer, who brilliantly served as the 2009-10 Duke basketball squad's primary point guard, finished that South Region semifinal in Houston with 18 points, five rebounds, and four assists as the Blue Devils picked up a 70-57 win over the Boilermakers on their way to the program's fourth of now-five national championships.
At the time, Purdue head coach Matt Painter, now 52 years old and in his 18th year leading the Boilermakers, was in his fifth season at the program's helm.
In early December of the 2008-09 season, Jon Scheyer tied teammate Kyle Singler with his game-high 20 points as the Blue Devils notched a 76-60 road win over Painter's Boilermakers in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.
Those two games are the Blue Devils' last two meetings with the Boilermakers. Duke basketball trails in the all-time series with Purdue, 3-4.
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