No. 21 Duke Surges Past No. 10 Baylor, 78-70

NEW YORK – All five starters scored in double-figures for No. 21 Duke (8-3) and the Blue Devils used a late 14-1 run to secure the 78-70 win over No. 10 Baylor (9-2) at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Jared McCain quickly got Duke on to the board, knocking down a mid-range jumper on the Blue Devils’ first possession of the night. A three-pointer by Jeremy Roach and two free throws by McCain gave Duke the early lead, 7-3, just over two minutes into the game.
• The Blue Devils took their first double-digit lead, 18-8, following a fast-break layup by Mark Mitchell at the 13:35 mark of the opening half. Duke remained ahead, 20-12, at the second media timeout of the half, behind a game-high nine points by McCain.
• Baylor used a 9-0 scoring burst to draw within one, 26-25, with 5:34 remaining before half. The Bears took the lead, 28-26, with a three-pointer, but Roach answered with a floater to knot the score at the final media timeout of the opening frame.
• McCain moved into double-figures, the first player to do so in the game, putting Duke back in front, 32-30. At the break, the Blue Devils remained ahead by the same margin, 34-32.
• The two teams traded buckets out of the break, combining to score 11 points within the first three minutes of second-half action. Two free throws by Roach at the 16:28 mark pushed the senior in double-digits and Duke ahead, 40-39. Back-to-back three-pointers gave Baylor its largest lead of the game, 48-42, leading to a Duke timeout with 14 minutes remaining in the game.
• Five consecutive possessions ended in made shots, before Kyle Filipowski was fouled on a three-pointer, triggering the under-12 media timeout with Baylor in the lead, 54-48.
• McCain and Caleb Foster scored on back-to-back trips down the floor, putting Duke back in front, 55-54. The Blue Devils defense forced two straight turnovers and extended is scoring run to 9-0, claiming a 57-54 lead as the clock ticked under nine minutes.
• The back-and-forth affair continued, with both squads trading baskets. Ryan Young reached 1,000 career points with a layup at the 5:35 mark, giving the Blue Devils a 63-61 edge. A step-back by Roach on the next possession was followed by a McCain three-pointer to establish a nine-point lead for the Blue Devils, 70-61.
• The Duke run reached as large as 14-1 to help the Blue Devils secure the 78-70 victory. 

NOTES

• With the win, Duke improved to 2-0 all-time against Baylor. Both games were played on a neutral court – the previous meeting was in the 2010 NCAA Tournament in the Elite Eight, with Duke emerging with the 78-71 victory. 
• Wednesday night marked the 59th game at current Madison Square Garden for Duke. With the win, the Blue Devils moved to 41-18 in the venue. Duke has won seven straight and eight of its last nine at MSG.
• At all NBA arenas, Duke has won 23 of its last 26 and moved to 2-0 this season and 96-33 all-time in NBA venues.
• All five Duke starters scored in double-figures, marking the first time this season the Blue Devils had five players eclipse 10 points.
• The win over No. 10 Baylor marked Duke’s first win over an opponent ranked between No. 6-10 since defeating No. 10 Kentucky, 79-71, on Nov. 9, 2021, and first overall top-10 victory since defeating No. 1 Gonzaga, 84-81, on Nov. 26, 2021. 
• With the victory, head coach Jon Scheyer secured the first top-10 victory of his coaching career.
• Duke held Baylor to 70 points, 18.4 below its scoring average of 88.4 points. The Blue Devils have now held each of their 11 opponents below their respective scoring average. 
• Freshman Jared McCain scored a game-high 21 points, matching his season-best point production and marking the second time in three games he has led the team in scoring. The Sacramento, California, native shot an efficient 7-of-11 (.636) from the field and connected on 3-of-6 (.500) from deep – his third straight game with at least three successful three-pointers. The Blue Devils are now 4-0 when he reaches that threshold. 
• Jeremy Roach scored 18 points, shooting 5-of-9 (.556) from the field. The senior guard also went 1-of-2 (.500) from beyond the arc and 7-of-8 from the foul line. Roach has now made a three-pointer in six consecutive games, matching the longest streak in his career.
• Mark Mitchell scored 10 points, his seventh game of the season with at least 10 points and 23rd career double-digit performance. Duke is now 21-2 when Mitchell scores 10 or more. 
• Kyle Filipowski logged his fourth double-double of the season and second consecutive, scoring 13 points while adding 10 rebounds. The sophomore now has 20 career double-doubles in 47 games played. 
• Caleb Foster rounded out Duke’s double-digit scoring, putting up 12 points while grabbing a career-high five boards. 
• Ryan Young‘s layup at 5:35 of the second half provided the team captain with his 1,000th career point. He added a pair of free throws and now sits at 1,002, including 258 points at Duke and 744 at Northwestern (2019-22).

QUOTES

• “What an honor to play in [Madison Square Garden]. This has been a special place for us, especially to play right before Christmas… just seeing the crowd show up, and all the Duke fans in New York, what a special thing. For these guys, I know they love playing in it. It’s great coaching in it. To play a team like Baylor, to get tested by a team who really had, coming in, a top-five offense in the country, best three-point shooting team, top-five offensive rebounding team, and a great culture. They’ve been a winning program. So, it’s an honor for us to play them. I thought we were incredibly tough tonight. I’m not saying Baylor wasn’t. I thought we were more mentally tough down the stretch, which is what this program has been about. I thought our defense throughout was pretty good. I mean, they’re an explosive offensive team. They’re going to score some points. I’m really proud of this game, proud of just the mental toughness that we’ve shown.” – head coach Jon Scheyer
• “It’s definitely big to get a win. Obviously against Baylor, they’re a great team. But we just wanted to kind of prove to ourselves that we can do it. Obviously, we had three tough losses early in the season and I felt like I didn’t kind of set the tone. I wasn’t leading the right way. I wasn’t doing what I needed to do. Just forget the offense. Forget everything. Just me leading and my presence there, like coach said, has been a big thing.” – senior Jeremy Roach
• “There’s really no words to describe it (playing in Madison Square Garden). I mean, I’m in New York, at Christmas time. Going to see the Rockefeller tree tomorrow. I’m excited. This is just a surreal moment. I visualize a lot of stuff and I visualized coming into the locker room celebrating. And it happened. There’s no words to describe it. It was amazing.” – freshman Jared McCain

UP NEXT

• No. 21 Duke returns to Cameron Indoor Stadium for its final non-conference game of the 2023-24 season, taking on Queens on Dec. 30. The first meeting between the two teams starts at 2 p.m., airing on The CW. 

To stay up to date with Blue Devils men’s basketball, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching “DukeMBB”.

#GoDuke