Watching Duke play is, generally speaking, fun. For decades, the Blue Devils have generally played the right way and with great heart and effort. Occasionally though there are those games that are transcendent, where Duke just hits another gear and leaves the other team behind, battered, bruised and bitter. Think of what the Zion Williamson-lead 2019 team did to Kentucky. Think of the massive comeback against Maryland in the 2001 Final Four. Or think of Duke’s 110-67 win over Illinois just last season
which is, as it happens, the worst defeat in Illinis history.
Illinois, remember, was a pretty solid, well-coached team. Duke was favored to win, but only by 9.5 points. Certainly not many people expected a clinic like the one they got. The Blue Devils hit 52.2 percent of their threes and 55.6 overall and had just six turnovers. Illinois, by contrast, hit just 2-26 for their threes (7.7 percent) and 37.9 percent overall. It was one of the most impressive demolition jobs in Duke Basketball history. It was just clinical.
