Duke edged out Kansas in a thriller last night 68-61 to win their 5th Maui Invitational. But the Blue Devils and Jayhawks have played many classic games throughout the years. The Blue Zone counts down six of the top Duke-Kansas contests in chronological order, leading up to last night's Blue Devil victory. And when these two teams play, it's close -- none of these games have a margin larger than seven points.
March 29, 1986: Duke 71, Kansas 67
In the NCAA tournament Final Four the first-seeded Blue Devils took on a No. 2 seed Kansas in Dallas, Texas. Led by 24 points from current Stanford head coach Johnny Dawkins, Duke edged out the Larry Brown-coached Jayhawks to advance to the championship game, overcoming 22 points on 11-of-15 shooting by Ronald Kellogg. Danny Ferry added eight while Tommy Amaker and Jay Bilas each contributed seven to help put the game out of reach. This would prove to be the Blue Devils' 37th and final win of the 1985-1986 season, however, losing by three points to Louisville in the finals. 37 wins is tied for the most head coach Mike Krzyzewski has ever won in a season, also reaching that mark in the 1998-1999 season.
April 2, 1988: Kansas 66, Duke 59
The Jayhawks got their revenge from that Final Four loss by eking out Duke in the semifinals just two years later. Kansas was led by two players with 20+ points, with Danny Manning dropping 25 and Milt Newton scoring 20. Danny Ferry added a double-double for the Blue Devils on 19 points and 12 rebounds, but did so on just 7-of-22 shooting. The Jayhawks proceeded to win their second title in the championship game over Oklahoma. This was Brown's first and only national championship, as he left Kansas under shady circumstances due to recruiting violations that left the Jayhawks banned -- as the reigning champions -- from the 1989 NCAA tournament.
April 1, 1991: Duke 72, Kansas 65
With Krzyzewski facing Kansas in the NCAA tournament for the third time in six seasons, Duke triumphed to give the program and their coach its first title. After going to the Final Four for four consecutive seasons, and five out of the last six, people were waiting for the Blue Devils to break through. They controlled the game for the first 35 minutes, but the Jayhawks whittled down a lead that was as high as 14 points with seven minutes remaining to just five in the game's final minute. On 12-12 shooting from the foul line, Christian Laettner led Duke with 18 points and 10 rebounds, while Grant Hill added 10 points and eight boards. The only player to play all 40 minutes, Bobby Hurley notched 12 points with nine assists as a part of the first of the Blue Devils' back-to-back national titles.
March 19, 2000: Duke 69, Kansas 64
In the round of 32, Duke and Kansas met in Winston-Salem, North Carolina with the first-seeded Blue Devils prevailing after a strong second half. The two teams, both littered with NBA talent, were knotted at 35 after the first half, but Duke held the Jayhawks to just 29 points in the second period to secure the five-point victory. Shane Battier led the game with 21 points on 10-of-11 shooting from the charity stripe. Kansas was guided by future NBA players Nick Collison, Kirk Hinrich and Drew Gooden. Although the Blue Devils fell in the Sweet 16, much of the team, including Battier, Carlos Boozer, Mike Dunleavy Jr. and Jay Williams, would return the next season to give the program its third national championship in a win over Arizona.
March 27, 2003: Kansas 69, Duke 65
Years later, Collison and Hinrich remained from the 2000 bout and Collison dominated Duke in the paint to give the Jayhawks the victory in the Sweet 16. Collison put home 33 points on 14-of-22 shooting while grabbing 19 boards in a classic battle of big men, squaring off against Shelden Williams. Dahntay Jones led Duke with 23 points and guards Daniel Ewing and Chris Duhon added 13 and 12 points, respectively. But, the real story was the lack of scoring from J.J. Redick who was held to just five points on a miserable 2-of-16 from the field. Kansas proceeded to advance to the program's seventh title game, only to give Syracuse, which was led by freshman stud Carmelo Anthony, its first national championship,.
November 23, 2011: Duke 68, Kansas 61
In a battle between two top-15 teams in the championship game of the Maui Invitational, Tyler Thornton nailed two threes in the game's last 90 seconds to keep Duke on top of Kansas. Forwards Mason Plumlee and Ryan Kelly led the Blue Devils with 17 points apiece, with guard Austin Rivers adding 10. But Krzyzewski benched the freshman late in favor of defensive specialist Thornton, who despite having attempted just seven shots entering last night's game, hit two clutch threes to seal the game, the second of which was a desperation attempt with time on the shot clock expiring and two hands in his face.
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