The Blue Devils are always busy during the holiday season, and this year they will be busy playing teams from the Beehive State.
Utah announced Thursday that it will face Duke Dec. 19 at Madison Square Garden—a rematch of March's Sweet 16 matchup, a 63-57 Blue Devil victory on their way to the national championship. The reveal came just a week after Utah State released a portion of its nonconference slate—a trip to Cameron Indoor Stadium three days after Thanksgiving.
The Runnin' Utes lost a big offensive weapon with the departure of 6-foot-5 guard Delon Wright, whose 14.5 points and 5.1 assists per game helped fuel his team's postseason run. Analysts thought center Jakob Poeltl had plenty of upside if he chose to enter the NBA draft, but the Austrian big man and his 9.1 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game opted to return to Salt Lake City for his sophomore season instead.
"This is an opportunity to play one of the elite programs in college basketball in one of the most recognizable basketball venues in the country. We think it will be a terrific opportunity and test before we start conference play less than two weeks later," Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak said in a team press release.
The trip to the Big Apple will be Duke's second of the 2015-16 season. The Blue Devils are scheduled to compete in the 2K Classic in November, which will involve two games at The Garden. The other teams participating in that event are Wisconsin, Georgetown and Virginia Commonwealth.
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