College Basketball Game of the Week: No. 12 Duke vs. No. 17 Arizona

It will be a classic showdown out west as two big-name basketball programs go at it at the McKale Memorial Center in Tucson, Arizona at 10:30 p.m. on Friday. The No. 17 Arizona Wildcats will play host to the No. 12 Duke Blue Devils.

Although both teams are projected to have great seasons, they both have uncharacteristic early-season losses this year.

In their previous game, the Wildcats suffered a brutal loss to the unranked Wisconsin Badgers. The Badgers left no doubt of their win with a final score of 103-88.

The Blue Devils found themselves in a ranked battle against the No 19 Kentucky Wildcats last week on Nov. 12 and came up short by a final score of 77-72.

Duke lost its top 3 leading scorers from last year to the NBA Draft and the transfer portal, but made up for their losses in their newest recruiting class.

Cooper Flagg is the highlight of that recruiting class. The freshman is leading the team in virtually every offensive category. Points per game, rebounds per game, assists per game, you name it, he’s leading his team in it.

Flagg isn’t the only highly after freshman on that team. Kon Knueppel and Khaman Maluach are other freshmen who are making a big splash for the Blue Devils.

The Wildcat lost one of their best players from last year, Oumar Ballo, to the transfer portal. The big man, standing 7-foot-even, left for the Indiana Hoosiers and is on the preseason All-Big Ten team.

Arizona Head Coach Tommy Lloyd has needed to mix and match his starting five this year to find a replacement for Ballo, but he landed Tobe Awaka from Tennessee in the transfer portal, who is leading his team this year in rebounds.

Trey Townsend is a name that is familiar if you’re a college basketball fan. He was on the Cinderella team, Oakland, from last year’s March Madness Tournament. He makes an appearance on a more mainstream college basketball program, Arizona, this year.

Tyrese Proctor is a guard who is a returning player from last year’s Duke roster that lost in the Elite Eight and lost to the NC State Wolfpack. He’s been a bright spot on an already bright team as has been third on his team in points, only behind two of Duke’s freshman sensations, Flagg and Knueppel.

The Blue Devils got Mason Gillis out of the transfer portal. He won’t provide any highlights or stats that set the world on fire, but he will provide solid basketball play, and he won’t turn the ball over often. That is what he did when he won Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year while playing for Purdue last year.

Caleb Love is the catalyst of the well-oiled machine that is the Arizona Wildcats. He is a returning player this year. Last year, he led his team in minutes and points per game, and this year, he is one of the favorites to have an encore of last year.

Jaden Bradley is another returning player for the Wildcats this season who will need to make a big splash if his team has any National Championship hope. He will be competing with Love for the leader in points per game this year as he is the leader this year with 14.7 points per game this year.

When the two teams met last year, Arizona came out on top 78-73. They look a lot different this year. It will be must-see TV on Friday at 10:30 p.m. on ESPN2.

Chase Yingling is a third-year student majoring in digital/print journalism. To contact him, email cey5100@psu.edu.