• Basketball
  • Baylor Bears And Duke Blue Devils Set To Clash At Madison Square Garden In December

Baylor Bears And Duke Blue Devils Set To Clash At Madison Square Garden In December

Details
Basketball

Baylor men's basketball will take center stage in a marquee matchup with Duke at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 20, 2023, announced by BU and MSG.

Time and network will be determined at a later date, but December's matchup will be the second-ever between the two schools and the first since a 78-71 Duke win in the Elite Eight on March 28, 2010.

The Bears and the Blue Devils are the only two programs in the country to feature three-straight top-20 picks in the NBA Draft, and head coach Scott Drew is looking forward to a battle in the Big Apple in December.

"We have the utmost respect for Duke and what they have accomplished," he said. "Coach [Jon] Scheyer is continuing the program's great legacy, and over the last few seasons, we have been two of the best teams in college basketball. To have our programs meet up in one of the most iconic venues in our sport is a tremendous opportunity and one we're looking forward to in December."

Baylor will be making its seventh appearance at Madison Square Garden and its first since 2017. The Bears captured the 2013 NIT Championship at MSG with a 74-54 rout over the Iowa Hawkeyes behind 17 points and 10 assists from Pierre Jackson. The win was BU's first national championship of any kind in men's basketball.

In its only other meeting with the Blue Devils, Baylor got a team-leading 22 points from LacDarius Dunn and held a two-point lead with under five minutes to play in front of a raucous crowd in Houston. With 4:39 to play in the game, Quincy Acy was called for an offensive foul, and from that point, Duke outscored the Bears 15-3, denying BU its first trip to the Final Four in the modern era with a 78-71 victory. In the win, current Duke head coach Scheyer made five three-pointers en route to a 20-point night for the Blue Devils.

The full non-conference schedule will be announced in the coming months, but the Bears have previously announced another trip to the Big Apple as part of the NIT Season Tip-off Nov. 22-24 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Baylor will open the season on Nov. 7 at the Sanford Pentagon against Auburn in Sioux Falls, S.D., and host a marquee non-conference home contest against Seton Hall on Dec. 5 as part of the Big East/Big 12 Battle.