Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski won his 800th game on Tuesday night, as his top-ranked Blue Devils beat No. 4 Kansas State, 82-68, in the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic championship game in Kansas City. Krzyzewski, who ranks first all-time in NCAA Tournament wins and most 30-win seasons, became just the fifth head coach to win 800 or more games at one Division I school. Krzyzewski now has 873 career wins, just 29 behind his mentor Bob Knight for most all-time in Division I.
Senior captain Nolan Smith and freshman sensation Kyrie Irving led the Blue Devils with 17 points and five rebounds each. Irving added six assists and two steals and limited Kansas State's preseason All-American, Jacob Pullen, to just four points on 1-of-12 shooting and forced the senior into four turnovers. Andre Dawkins contributed 11 points on 3-of-3 three-point shooting in 19 minutes off the bench for Duke.
Turnovers and poor free-throw shooting troubled the Wildcats as Kansas State shot just 11-of-23 from the free-throw line and committed a horrendous 21 turnovers in the loss. Duke on the other hand, was 24-of-31 from the charity stripe. The loss dropped Kansas State 3-14 all time against No. 1 teams and 3-1 for the season. Duke improves to 5-0 this season and has now won 27 consecutive games in November.
Duke travels to Oregon to face their first true test before hosting perennial powerhouse Michigan State on Wednesday, Dec. 1, as part of the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. No. 2 Michigan State lost to Connecticut, 70-67, Tuesday. Duke and Michigan State appeared in the Final Four last season. Then, Duke travels to East Rutherford, N.J. for a national title game rematch against Butler on Saturday, Dec. 4. The Blue Devils beat Butler, 61-59, in the National Championship in April for their fourth title in school history. Picked by many to repeat as National Champs this year, the Blue Devils have a ton of firepower, which includes the best bench in the country.
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