Nick Krug

Kansas head coach Bill Self calls a play during the second half on Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, at Allen Fieldhouse.

After a brief hiatus with a pair of home games against mid-major opponents, both of which the Jayhawks handled quite well – “better games,” as point guard Dajuan Harris Jr. said. she mentioned – the difficulty of Kansas’ schedule is about to rebound.

KU travels to No. 11 Duke in Las Vegas on Tuesday at 8 p.m. Central Time as part of the Vegas Showdown event. It’s another battle of powerhouses amid a non-conference schedule for KU that already included North Carolina and Michigan State and still features open matchups at Creighton, at Missouri and versus NC State.

The grind doesn’t stop for the Jayhawks, even though they just experienced one of their only weeklong breaks of the entire season. Six full days between games is the second-longest gap for KU all year, right behind the eight days the Jayhawks get for their break between Brown (Dec. 22) and West Virginia (Dec. 31). The Big 12’s 20-game schedule offers no breaks this year.

Duke is on slightly less of a break after earning an impressive road win at another Big 12 foe, Arizona, 69-55 on Friday.

Under Jon Scheyer, the new Duke took a step forward in 2023-24 when he surpassed Scheyer’s first NCAA Tournament finish by two rounds, upsetting No. 1 seed Houston in the Sweet 16 and reaching the Elite Eight. This will be the first game against Scheyer for KU coach Bill Self since Scheyer replaced Mike Krzyzewski, as Self was suspended when the Jayhawks defeated Duke 69-64 two seasons ago.

“He did a great job,” Self said Friday. “And let’s just call it this: Duke has been really good for a long, long time, largely because of Coach (K), but also because of the culture they built over time and recruited other great players. and… what Jon has done in a short time is very impressive.

From last year’s team, Kyle Filipowski and Jared McCain went to the NBA, and Mark Mitchell and Jeremy Roach transferred, along with five other players. Instead, as the Blue Devils look to climb back to the heights of the Krzyzewski era, this year’s roster revolves around some formidable freshmen, led by 6-foot-4 All-American wing Cooper Flagg, who is widely considered a generational candidate. . Self equated him with other ready-made talents from the past, such as Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin and Michael Beasley.

“He would be trouble for anyone who played him,” Self said. ‘He’s great. We recruited him, I think he made it to the final three. Talent, athleticism, skill, but there’s another element that makes him different, which is that he’s so competitive and strong.

Flagg scored 26 points and grabbed 11 rebounds against Kentucky in the Champions Classic in Duke’s first big action of the year, but he did show his youth (he reclassified from the Class of 2025) with a pair of turnovers in the final 12 seconds that put the Wildcats were able to earn a 77-72 victory. He later scored 24 against Arizona.

Duke’s young lineup also includes fellow freshmen Kon Knueppel, himself a double-digit scorer with 14.4 points per game, and Khaman Maluach, a 7-foot-2 center, along with returning guards Caleb Foster and Tyrese Proctor.

AP Photo/Darryl Webb

Duke Blue Devils guard Cooper Flagg (2) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Arizona on Friday, Nov. 22, 2024, in Tucson, Ariz.

AP Photo/Darryl Webb

Duke Blue Devils guard Kon Knueppel (7) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Arizona on Friday, Nov. 22, 2024, in Tucson, Ariz.

AP Photo/John Bazemore

Duke center Khaman Maluach (9) reacts after a Blue Devils basket during the first half of an NCAA basketball game against Kentucky, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, in Atlanta.

“Everyone will talk about that one, but the other two are potential lottery picks, if not also lottery picks,” Self said of the freshmen. “They have a very good selection. And then of course you throw in Proctor and Foster, which is pretty good. That’s just as good as talent from a starting five perspective, you see that all year round.”

While KU’s rotation relies heavily on fourth- and fifth-year players, Proctor, a junior, is the Blue Devils’ most experienced player — at least in the starting lineup. He and Knueppel each shoot above 40% from deep. They also have transfers like Maliq Brown (Syracuse), Mason Gillis (Purdue) and Sion James (Tulane) coming off the bench.

“We’ve definitely gotten better with our ball screen defense,” KU guard Rylan Griffen said. “That’s something we’ve got to continue to improve on when it comes to Duke, because they’re so good, so tall and athletic and all that.”

Duke has fielded high-level defense despite the lack of continuity from previous seasons, allowing teams to score 57.4 points per game; the Blue Devils also outscore their opponents by an average of 11 boards per game, although that number is inflated by their dominant performances against Maine, Army and Wofford.

It will be a tough game for KU, possibly the toughest of many preseason tests. As the Jayhawks try to forge their identity in the early stages of the year, one area in particular stands out to newcomer Griffen that could also help them immensely against Duke.

“I feel like we’re looking better in transition right now because we’re just moving the ball and getting easy layups, easy lobs, easy threes,” he said. ‘It’s also easier to go against an unstable defense. I have the feeling that we are at our best then and that we can play even more in transition.”

No. 1 Kansas Jayhawks (5-0) vs. No. 11 Duke Blue Devils (4-1)

• T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, 8 p.m. Central Time

• Broadcast: ESPN

• Radio: Jayhawk Radio Network (in Lawrence, KLWN AM 1320 / K269GB FM 101.7 / KMXN FM 92.9)

Keep an eye on things

All-in: For the first time in years, KU will have a rather sparse Thanksgiving week after playing three games in four days in 2021-22 and three games in three days each of the past two seasons as part of various multi-team events. He himself says that tournaments like the Battle 4 Atlantis or Maui Invitational are “where you can actually get a chance to become a team,” and called Thursday night’s double overtime match between Baylor and St. John’s in the Bahamas a game that ” could produce’. your momentum for the next month.” The Jayhawks might be able to gain some momentum if the Duke game goes their way, but they don’t play again until Saturday. That means both KU and Duke will worry less about MTE-style personnel management: “This will be a game that I’m sure both teams are playing to win, regardless of the bench situation, things like that,” said Self.

Post attendance: Self said he realized KU needs to play two big basketball games with Flory Bidunga and Hunter Dickinson for five to seven minutes per game as he looks to get Bidunga toward the 20-minute mark. Since Duke can threaten inside with Flagg and Maluach, it could be to Self’s advantage to utilize this personnel group even more, especially when paired with some of the Jayhawks’ best shooters. (Granted, KJ Adams could be quite valuable in this match as well.) Self has said he expects Bidunga to be 100% fit for Tuesday’s match after leaving the UNCW game in the first half with a minor ankle problem .

Turn it up: Dajuan Harris Jr. had an exceptional game against UNCW, tallying 17 points and six assists while holding the Seahawks’ Donovan Newby to seven points on 2-for-9 shooting. He himself suggested after the game that Harris had found another gear defensively, in contrast to his performances during the 2023-2024 campaign. Tuesday will be his next chance to continue his strong form against the Blue Devils’ dynamic guards.

Excessive observation

Self said he has never been to Cameron Indoor Stadium but has driven past it when he was in town recruiting a potential transfer. He added that he would “love to get home and home with Duke,” as KU currently is with North Carolina (the Jayhawks play a return date in Chapel Hill next year), working on potential Champions Classic planning -logistics.

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Written by Hendrik Groenstein

Henry is sports editor at Lawrence Journal-World and KUsports.com, and serves as KU beat writer while managing daily sports coverage. He previously worked as a sports reporter at The Bakersfield Californian and is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis (BA, Linguistics) and Arizona State University (MA, Sports Journalism). Even though he’s from Los Angeles, he’s often told he doesn’t exude a “California vibe,” whatever that means.

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