NCAA Basketball: Best games from 2019-20 season – Duke vs. Kansas

The Champions Classic gave us a great matchup between Duke and Kansas; let’s remember how it delivered.

Long before the postseason was snatched away, the NCAA Basketball season had already delivered its fair share of exciting moments. Between conference play and some great early season tournaments, there were plenty of memorable games. On our top 40 games of the 2019-20 season, we look even further back, reflecting on an exciting matchup on the first night of the season.

14. #4 Duke 68, #3 Kansas 66 (Champions Classic)

November 5, 2019, Madison Square Garden in New York, NY

Since its inception, the Champions Classic has provided an exciting start to the college basketball season, matching up four of the best Blue Blood programs in the nation in annual showdowns. These four teams headed to Madison Square Garden and gave us a pair of great games. We’ve already taken a look at the excitement as Kentucky knocked off Michigan State, but there was also the first game of the night.

As per usual, there were big things expected for this Duke team, even if they had a big hole left behind by Zion Williamson. The Blue Devils were set to work highly-touted recruits like Vernon Carey Jr. and Matthew Hurt into their lineup, though they did have Tre Jones back for his sophomore year. In coach Mike Krzyzewski’s 40th year in Durham, the team looked just as potent as ever and were presented with a great chance to open their season with a bang.

Kansas was no slouch either, with Udoka Azubuike, Devon Dotson, and Marcus Garrett representing just some of the talent on this Jayhawks team. Expectations were high as usual for Kansas, especially after they had failed to win the Big 12 title last season, snapping a streak of more than a decade.

What was expected to be a tightly-contested back and forth affair really delivered. Kansas jumped out to an early lead, but five quick points from Hurt put the Blue Devils on the board. Neither team could pull out to any sort of advantage. It wasn’t until nearly thirteen minutes into the half that Kansas grabbed a 4-point lead on a layup from Tristan Enaruna.

Unsurprisingly, Duke battled back, scoring the game’s next seven points, much of it from a 5-point spurt from Alex O’Connell. Later on, Duke would build themselves quite the advantage, taking their own 5-point lead thanks to an and-1 from Javin DeLaurier. Kansas put up a pair of buckets to pull closer at the half, as Duke’s lead was just 33-30.

Matthew Hurt’s 3-pointer helped rebuild Duke’s lead, but then the offense faded away for the Blue Devils. A 14-0 run by Kansas in the early stages of the second half changed the complexion of what had been a close game throughout. During that run, Kansas had gotten seven points from Ochai Agbaji while forcing turnovers and bad shots from the Blue Devils.

A pair of Duke 3-pointers got them back in the game, while Cassius Stanley’s back-to-back dunks tied the game with just under 12 minutes left. A few minutes later, Stanley continued his scoring run with a 3-pointer, while O’Connell gave Duke back the lead on the next possession.

At the five minute mark, Duke still held the lead, but Kansas took it back on an and-1 from Azubuike, though Hurt’s 3-pointer gave it right back. The game would ping pong back and forth in the final minutes. Down the stretch, the Blue Devils hit their free throws while Kansas failed offensively to chip into the lead. Dotson hit a 3-pointer in the final seconds, but that did nothing but shrink the gap to two, giving Duke the hard-fought win.

The season debut was very sloppy for Kansas, who shot 46%, but missed 10 free throws and committed 26 turnovers in the loss. Dotson led the way with 17 points and the Jayhawks shot well from beyond the arc, but it wasn’t enough down the stretch. The Blue Devils were sloppy from the charity stripe as well and were outrebounded, but got decent scoring efforts from their young stars, including 15 points from Tre Jones.

Duke got the great season-opening win and stood out as one of the best teams in the nation. They lost a few questionable games down the stretch, not to mention their home loss to Stephen F. Austin, and had actually secured the 4 seed in an ACC Tournament that never happened. Still, their young talent was elite and this Blue Devils team certainly could have made another deep run in the postseason.

Kansas played great basketball all season long, never losing a game to an unranked team and winning another Big 12 regular season title. By season’s end, they were on a 16-game winning streak, winning the conference by a pair of games over a potent Baylor squad. This was a certain 1-seed had the NCAA Tournament taken place and may have been coach Bill Self’s best chance at a second national title.

We had no idea back in November the crisis that would destroy the college basketball postseason, but at least we had this showdown in New York. These two teams were elite and played an exciting back and forth affair. Even though it was a sloppy game, these were definitely two of the best teams of the season and we’re all fortunate for the Champions Classic for giving us this matchup.