As the 2010s draw to a close and we enter into the next promising decade, we have been looking back on the thrills spills, wins and losses of Duke’s Blue Devils basketball team. For this piece in particular we are going to look at some of the biggest wins of the decade and to help us out we have Carter Boyle Duke senior and massive Blue Devils fan, who has followed the team since before he came to the university. There wee many to choose from, but these are our top 4.
Duke 61 v Butler 59 – 2010
Duke should’ve have easily gotten past 5th seeded Butler back in 2010 to open their decade with a fourth championship banner, but the team from Butler had very different ideas. At no point during the game was either team up by more than 6 and the Bulldogs just kept pushing the Blue Devils. As the game closed out, future NBA All Star Gordon Hayward gave up some free throws to put the Blue Devils up by one with seconds left, Hayward then launched a halfway line buzzer beater attempt which missed by millimeters.
Duke 68 v Wisconsin 63 – 2015
The night that freshman Allen decided to show his true colors was a special night and helped the Blue Devils towards their second national championship. The Badgers came out in great form during the second half after a close first half encounter, before Allen brought us right back into it alongside Tyus Jones who showed his clutch skills and posted a game-high 23 points.
Duke 85 v North Carolina 84 – 2012
The famous Austin Rivers game, where the young freshman slammed in 29 points during a sensational game, which of course included the game winner. With 2 minutes left in the game North Carolina were up by ten and it looked all over, 3 point shots from Thornton and Curry squeezed the game before North Carolina choked on their free throws only for Rivers to drain a 2 pointer to win the game.
Duke 92 v North Carolina 90 – 2015
Another classic game against North Carolina took place in 2015 when the Blue Devils were down by 7 points with only 2 minutes on the clock. Clutch master Tyus Jones once again showed his talent with 22 points and seven rebounds, not to mention 8 assists, which brought Duke back into the game and look it to OT. The Blue Devils looked great during the additional time and with the help of Jahlil Okafor, managed to see the game out to win by just 2 points. The victory was made even sweeter given the fact that Krzyzewski told his North Carolina team that they were going to win the game when they were 7 clear, comments he quickly learned to regret.
Which were your top Duke victories in the last decade? Let us know in the comments.
