Duke now has its first official schedule of the Kara Lawson era.
The ACC released its conference slate Wednesday morning on the ACC Network, with each team playing 20 conference games this year, up from 18 last year. Four teams from the conference were named in the preseason AP Top 25, and a couple more are expected to challenge by the end of the season, meaning the Blue Devils' schedule is filled with premier matchups.
Duke's conference slate opens up with some tough games, with three of its first four games coming against No. 5 Louisville and No. 8 N.C. State, the former of which the Blue Devils host twice in three weeks. There’s an especially grueling stretch for Duke in the second half of January, in which it plays at North Carolina, home against No. 23 Syracuse, at Georgia Tech, home against the eighth-ranked Wolfpack and at No. 22 Notre Dame. That’s five games in two weeks against five teams all expected to compete for the ACC crown, and will be the biggest inflection point in the team’s season.
The Blue Devils open the season with three nonconference opponents in Longwood Nov. 25, Western Carolina Nov. 29 and Coastal Carolina Dec. 5, and has another nonconference game against UNC-Wilmington scheduled for Dec. 22. All of those will be at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The ACC features an incredible depth of competitive teams this year, reflected in the eight teams that received votes in the AP poll, highest of any conference in the nation. Louisville and N.C. State figure to see little drop off after finishing top-10 in the polls last year, Syracuse adds great talent to a formidable 2019-20 squad, Notre Dame has gotten healthy and added talent, North Carolina brings in a top-15 recruiting class and Georgia Tech’s promising rebuild is coming to fruition.
Here's Duke's full 2020-21 slate:
Nov. 25 vs. Longwood
Nov. 29 vs. Western Carolina
Dec. 5 vs. Coastal Carolina
Dec. 10 vs. Louisville
Dec. 13 at Miami
Dec. 20 at NC State
Dec. 22 vs. UNC-Wilmington
Dec. 31 vs. Louisville
Jan. 3 vs. Virginia Tech
Jan. 7 at Florida State
Jan. 10 at Boston College
Jan. 14 vs. Clemson
Jan. 17 at North Carolina
Jan. 21 vs. Syracuse
Jan. 24 at Georgia Tech
Jan. 28 vs. NC State
Jan. 31 at Notre Dame
Feb. 4 at Virginia
Feb. 7 vs. Miami
Feb. 14 vs. Pittsburgh
Feb. 18 at Virginia Tech
Feb. 21 at Wake Forest
Feb. 25 vs. Virginia
Feb. 28 vs. North Carolina
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