Over the last six decades, Duke University has been almost synonymous with the NBA. The school is consistently one of the elite institutions in the United States of producing high-quality basketball talent. Over the years, many notables who have been a Blue Devil include Kyrie Irving, Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett and Grant Hill. Since 1980, the Blue Devils have been coached by Mike Krzyzewski, who has led Duke to five NCAA championships.
When Duke loses, it is news. However, when they lose to a non-conference opponent at home, it is massive news.
That is what happened on Tuesday night when the Blue Devils lost 85-83 to the Stephen F. Austin State University Lumberjacks. To put this loss into perspective, it was the first time since 2000 that Duke lost a non-conference game at home. That was a home winning streak of 150 games. According to the Associated Press, the last time Duke lost at the Cameron Indoor Stadium to a team that was not part of the Atlantic Coast Conference was February 26, 2000, when Duke lost 83-82 to St. John’s University Red Storm.
Based in Nacogdoches, Texas, the Lumberjacks are part of the Southland Conference. In the two-point shocker over the Blue Devils, they were led in scoring by senior guard Kevon Harris of Ellenwood, Georgia, who had 26 points. Nineteen years ago, the Red Storm, who are part of the Big East, were led in scoring by Bootsy Thornton, who had 22 points. Thornton also had the game-winning basket in the contest with 11.9 seconds left.
