Report: Duke, Texas agree to November 4th showdown at Spectrum Center

Duke and Texas, two brands despite being in different places as basketball programs, will both likely be tournament-level teams next spring. They’ll get an early feel for where they stand, though, against one another in one of the first games of their respective seasons.

The Blue Devils and Longhorns will reportedly meet early next season with a neutral-site game on November 4th in Charlotte, North Carolina. Reporting of that non-conference game between them comes from sources speaking to Jon Rothstein at CBS Sports.

“NEWS: Duke and Texas are finalizing an agreement to meet on November 4th at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, according to a source,” Rothstein tweeted on Friday morning.

Duke and Texas have met three times on the court in history. The Blue Devils swept that trio of matchups, winning 97-66 in a top two-ranked matchup in December of 2005. That came behind a career-high tying total of 41 points off a career-best nine made threes, in one of the highest-scoring outings in school history from JJ Redick.

The Blue Devils also won 85-78 in overtime, behind another career-best game from Marvin Bagley (34 points (63.2% FG), 15 rebounds) in their most recent matchup in November of 2017. That was the semifinals of the PK80-Phil Knight Invitational from Portland, Oregon. The third was then in the 2009 NCAA Tournament when Duke won 76-62 in the Round of 32 in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Duke remains one of the top teams and a blue blood in college basketball through the third year of the coaching transition to Scheyer. The Blue Devils are 89-22 (.802) in his tenure, including this past season with one of their best records in school history at 35-4 (.897) in sweeping the titles in the ACC, being a No. 1 seed, and returning to the Final Four.

Duke will again project as one of the top teams next season. That is thanks to the returns of Isaiah Evans, Caleb Foster, Maliq Brown, and Patick Ngongba, a third-ranked recruiting class, and a top transfer currently in Cedric Coward from Washington State.

Texas is going through a transition as a program. The Longhorns have had winning records but just had their worst in almost a decade at 19-16, still making the First Four of the NCAA Tournament after a much-needed run in the SEC Tournament. That has since led to a coaching change from Rodney Terry to Sean Miller from Xavier and some roster turnover.

The Longhorns presently have the No. 2 class, with five commitments as of now, in the transfer portal per On3. UT will now pair that with several returners to Austin in Jordan Pope, Tramon Mark, and Chendall Weaver.

Duke and Texas will both already be playing a team from those conferences as part of the SEC/ACC Challenge. The two will just be starting their seasons off with another top opponent from that league in the Queen City early on in November.