Duke Basketball Reportedly Heading to Big Apple in Late February

Three weeks ago, Illinois basketball head coach Brad Underwood spilled the beans about a showdown — not yet finalized at the time — against Jon Scheyer's third Duke basketball squad in New York City's Madison Square Garden. Underwood noted that they were eyeing a February clash.

Now, according to a post from The Field of 68's Jeff Goodman on Monday evening, the game is expected to take place on Feb. 22. That marks Duke's latest scheduled non-conference outing in any regular season since the Blue Devils defeated visiting Temple in Durham, 78-61, on Feb. 23. 2011.

No Blue Devils have faced a non-conference foe in February since Zion Williamson & Co.'s 91-61 win over St. John's in MSG on Feb. 2, 2019.

Both the Blue Devils and Fighting Illini finished with nine losses this past season and reached the Elite Eight. The last time Duke played Illinois was in the 2020 ACC-Big Ten Challenge: an 83-68 Illini road victory in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Duke is expected to play Illinois at Madison Square Garden on February 22, source told @TheFieldOf68.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) June 3, 2024

The following is every piece of reported intel on what will be an 11-game Duke basketball non-conference slate:

Nov. 4 vs. Maine, Cameron Indoor Stadium, Durham, N.C.

Nov. 12 vs. Kentucky, Champions Classic, State Farm Arena, Atlanta

Nov. 21 at Arizona, McKale Memorial Center, Tucson, Ariz.

Nov. 26 vs. Kansas, Vegas Showdown, T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas

Nov. 29 vs. Seattle, Vegas Showdown, Cameron Indoor Stadium

Dec. 17 vs. George Mason, Cameron Indoor Stadium

Feb. 22 vs. Illinois, Madison Square Garden, New York City

Unknown date, opponent, and venue for the annual ACC-SEC Challenge

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