Ranking the Top 3 Kansas Basketball Wins vs Duke Over the Last 25 Years

The Kansas Jayhawks and the Duke Blue Devils are two of the premier college basketball programs in the country who share a history that dates back 40 years.

When the series first started in the mid-1980s, Duke dominated KU, winning six of the first seven matchups from December 1985 to March 2000. The one loss came in the 1988 NCAA Tournament when “Danny and the Miracles” upset Duke in the Final Four before capturing an improbable national championship with a win over heavily favored Oklahoma.

Since the 2000s, Kansas has owned the series winning six of the last eight contests dating back to March 2003. Here is a ranking of the three best KU wins during that time.

No. 3 – Kansas 94, Duke 83 (2013)

This was one of the most highly anticipated games of the 2013-14 non-conference slate featuring two of the most highly touted freshmen in college basketball in KU’s Andrew Wiggins and Duke’s Jabari Parker – and both players delivered.

Wiggins finished with 22 points scoring and 8 rebounds – including six points in the final minute and a half to put the game out of reach. Parker led all scorers with 27 points and had 9 rebounds as well.

Not only was it KU’s first win in the State Farm Champions Classic (which started in 2011), it was also the first win over Duke in the Bill Self era at Kansas.

No. 2 – Kansas 69, Duke 65 (2003)

The No. 2 seed Kansas Jayhawks and No. 3 seed Duke Blue Devils faced off in the 2003 NCAA Tournament in a high stakes Sweet 16 matchup with a trip to the Elite Eight on the line. The game featured multiple future pros on both teams and some of the best players to ever wear the school’s respective uniforms.

Kansas legend Nick Collison led all scorers in the game with a career high 33 points and a mind-boggling 19 rebounds. Fellow senior Kirk Hinrich struggled on the offensive side of the ball, scoring just 2 points on 1-of-9 shooting, but his defensive efforts helped keep Duke freshman phenom JJ Redick to just 5 points on 2-of-16 shooting.

The win was Roy Williams’ first over coaching rival Mike Krzyzewski who had won all four of the previous matchups dating back to 1990 – including the 1991 NCAA Championship game where Kansas fell short 72-65.

No. 1 – Kansas 85, Duke 81 OT (2018)

The best victory over the Duke Blue Devils these past 25 years came when the Jayhawks bested their fellow blue blood in an Elite Eight overtime thriller in the 2018 NCAA Tournament. The back-and-forth contest kept both fanbases on the edge of their seats with 18 lead changes and 11 ties when it was all said and done.

Kansas guard Svi Mykhailiuk hit the game-tying three-pointer with about 25 seconds left in regulation to force the game into overtime after Duke’s Grayson Allen missed what would have been a game winning shot at the buzzer.

The real hero of the game though was Kansas guard Malik Newman who scored a game-high and career-high 32 points, including all 13 of KU’s points in overtime to give the Jayhawks the win and secure their first trip to the Final Four since 2012.