Duke Basketball Aims to Maintain All-Time Best Champions Classic Record

If the No. 2-ranked Duke basketball squad (2-0, 0-0 ACC) prevails over the No. 5 Michigan State Spartans (2-0, 0-0 Big Ten) in Chicago's United Center on Tuesday night, the Blue Devils will at least temporarily own sole possession of the all-time best record at the annual Champions Classic, which began in 2011.

Duke, which boarded the plane from Durham on Monday afternoon for its bout against Michigan State at 7 p.m. ET Tuesday (ESPN), enters this edition with a 9-6 overall record at the Champions Classic. That mark puts the Blue Devils in a tie with the Kansas Jayhawks (2-0, 0-0 Big 12), who rank No. 15 in this week's AP Top 25 Poll and are set to square off against the No. 24 Kentucky Wildcats (2-0, 0-0 SEC) at 9:30 p.m. ET Tuesday (ESPN).

The Blue Devils' best head-to-head Champions Classic record is a 4-1 mark against Michigan State (16-4 across all meetings with the Spartans, 11-2 since 2010, and enjoying a three-game winning streak in the series). They are 3-2 versus Kentucky at the event and 2-3 versus Kansas.

But it's worth noting that Duke is only 2-2 at the event since Jon Scheyer succeeded Mike Krzyzewski as head coach in Durham back in 2022.

Meanwhile, Michigan State and Kentucky are both 6-9 all time at the blue-blood showcase.

More Champions Classic Memories on the Way

In each edition of the Champions Classic, at least three of the four teams have been ranked. That will again be the case on Tuesday night. Moreover, this year features the added bonus of the bout between Duke and Michigan State marking the first between top-five teams since 2019, when then-No. 1 Michigan State battled No. 2 Kentucky and No. 3 Kansas faced No. 4 Duke, with Duke and Kentucky emerging victorious that night.

"I said all along that there's memory-making moments in my job," the 71-year-old Tom Izzo, now in his 32nd season as Michigan State's head coach, noted in his press conference on Monday. "And one of the biggest memory-making moments is when we started in this [Champions Classic]...

"It's been one of the highlights of the schedule every year just because of the teams that are playing and the fanfare it brings, the alums it brings, all of the good things it brings."

After facing Michigan State, Jon Scheyer and his Blue Devils, who defeated their first two opponents at home in Cameron Indoor Stadium by an average of 47.5 points, will return to Durham and prepare for their matchup against the visiting unranked SIU Edwardsville Cougars at 8 p.m. ET Friday (The CW).

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