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Bagley, No. 1 Duke open ACC play at BC (Dec 09, 2017)
BOSTON -- It is all about milestones and numbers when No. 1 Duke visits Boston College for an early ACC game Saturday afternoon.
Saturday's game will be the 3,000th in the proud history of the Blue Devils program.
It is also coach Mike Krzyzewski's first crack at recording his 500th victory away from Cameron Indoor Stadium as the Duke coach, something that figures to happen against the Eagles (6-3).
More numbers? This is the 134th week Duke has been ranked No. 1 -- and Krzyzewski is 205-29 when coaching a No. 1 team.
More? OK, the Blue Devils won 11 straight to start the season, the program has won 11 straight against BC and leads the Eagles 20-2 all-time. The Devils are 8-1 at Boston College.
Freshman big man Marvin Bagley III is leading the ACC in scoring (21.9 points) and rebounding (11.2).
Krzyzewski's players ripped through 11 games in 26 days before a bit of a break in the schedule this week -- a chance to catch their breath.
"We're 11-0," Krzyzewski said after Duke hammered Saint Francis (Pa.) 124-67 on Tuesday night. "Now, we're 0 and 0."
Included in their wins were three all the way out in Portland, Ore., where the Devils won the PK 80 tournament (coming from 16 points down in the second half of one of the wins). They have also won in Chicago and Bloomington, Ind., and the mileage piles up with this visit to Chestnut Hill.
On Tuesday night, Duke scored 71 points in the first half, the fourth 70-point half in program history. The Blue Devils amassed 34 assists on 48 baskets.
"It shows that we're sharing the ball more, we're playing more as a team, trying to find each other," said freshman point guard Trevon Duval, who had 11 assists in the win and is averaging 10 per game on the season. "And it also means guys are making shots."
BC, picked to finish next to last in the ACC (Duke was No. 1), opened the season with the program's first 5-1 start in almost a decade but ran into a wall since -- and also lost one of its best players.
Teddy Hawkins, a graduate senior transfer from Illinois State, suffered a season-ending knee injury in a loss at Nebraska and finishes his brief BC career averaging 12.7 points and 10.0 rebounds, posting four double-doubles in eight games.
Hawkins would have had his hands full with Bagley and Co., but he would have been right in the middle of everything.
"Teddy means so much to everyone in our program and he made a big impact in his time here," Boston College coach Jim Christian said in a statement. "He brought maximum effort to every practice and game and was a positive influence on both our veterans and our younger players. His leadership on and off the court will be missed."
The loss of Hawkins puts even more pressure on the talented backcourt of Jerome Robinson and Ky Bowman.
Robinson became the program's 42nd 1,000-point scorer in a win at Hartford last weekend. According to BC, Bowman is the only player in the country averaging at least 15.8 points, 6.0 rebounds and 5.4 assists to this point in the season.
