Duke’s annual pilgrimage to New York City will take place later than usual next basketball season.
The program announced Wednesday that it will play Illinois on February 22, 2025, in a non-conference game at Madison Square Garden. News of the season-ending game was initially reported in May, when Illini coach Brad Underwood talked about it at the NBA Combine.
Playing late in the season is obviously a departure from normal circumstances when the Blue Devils played in New York in November or December. Duke has played at the famous arena for 10 of the last 11 years, with the exception of the 2020-21 season (in which Duke played just four non-conference games because of the COVID-19 pandemic).
The game will be played on a Saturday and will be broadcast on FOX. After this game, there will be two full weeks left in the ACC regular season; the ACC tournament begins March 11 in Charlotte.
Illinois went 29-9 last season, winning the Big Ten tournament and losing to eventual champion Connecticut in the Elite 8 by a score of 77-52.
Illinois was an older team last season and lost its four leading scorers, but reloaded in the transfer portal — including some ACC imports, Three White (Louisville) and CArey Booth (Notre Dame). Also in the Illinois transfer class, who knows is guard Kylan Boswellwho spent the last two seasons in Arizona.
Duke has won seven straight games at MSG, including last season’s 78-70 win over Baylor on Dec. 20.
