Matchups were announced Monday for the 2021 ACC-Big Ten Challenge, and the Buckeyes drew a big one as they will host Duke on Nov. 30 during legendary Blue Devil head coach Mike Krzyzewski’s final season at the helm of the program.
RELATED: Ohio State to host Duke in 2021 ACC/Big Ten Challenge
The two programs have not matched up in nearly a decade, with the last meeting having taken place back in November of 2012, but Ohio State could even the all-time series with Duke at four games apiece with a win this year.
In honor of Monday’s announcement, we’re taking a look back at every time the two teams have matched up previously, with notes about all seven meetings between the Buckeyes and Blue Devils prior to this season’s latest offering in the head-to-head.
Nov. 28, 2012: No. 4 OSU 68, No. 2 Duke 73
The last time these two teams met was a doozy in Cameron Indoor Stadium, as an undefeated, No. 2-ranked Duke team that featured six future NBA players captured a two-possession win over Thad Matta’s fourth-ranked, also undefeated Buckeyes. Both teams wound up in the Elite Eight that season, although neither advanced past that round.
Mason Plumlee and Rasheed Sulaimon combined for 38 points for the Blue Devils, while familiar names Quinn Cook, Ryan Kelly and Seth Curry each logged heavy minutes as well during the contest, which featured an eight-point comeback for Duke after halftime.
Ohio State’s Deshaun Thomas did the heavy lifting offensively, scoring a team-high 16 points, but the Buckeyes shot under 34 percent from the floor, including a combined 7-for-27 from starting backcourt Aaron Craft and Lenzelle Smith Jr.
Nov. 29, 2011: No. 2 OSU 85, No. 3 Duke 63
Duke’s aforementioned 2012 win avenged a one-sided blowout loss to the No. 2-ranked Buckeyes almost exactly one year prior, as two-time All-American forward Jared Sullinger was at the height of his powers, dropping 21 points on Plumlee, Kelly and the rest of the Blue Devils in a 22-point beatdown in Columbus.
The 2011-12 Buckeye team was the last to appear in the Final Four, and Matta’s star-studded roster showed its potential against Duke, as William Buford had a 20-point outing of his own while Craft and Thomas added an additional 35 combined.
Austin Rivers led the way for the Blue Devils on the other end, but his 22 points were not enough to get within striking distance of the Buckeyes, as Duke shot just 3-for-15 from 3-point range.
Dec. 3, 2002: OSU 76, No. 4 Duke 91
Despite a career-best effort from Ohio State senior guard Brent Darby, who put up 35 points in the contest, the unranked, 1-2 Buckeyes were simply overmatched by the fourth-ranked Blue Devils, who blew Ohio State out by a 15-point margin at home early in the 2002-03 season.
Duke’s J.J. Redick, who made his first start in the game, was held scoreless in the first half, but came alive to drop 20 in the second.
Jim O’Brien’s second-to-last Ohio State team finished 17-15 and lost in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament that season, while Krzyzewski’s Blue Devils made it to the Sweet Sixteen before dropping to Roy Williams’ Kansas Jayhawks by four points.
Dec. 29, 1978: OSU 90, No. 1 Duke 84
In what the New York Times referred to at the time as the “biggest surprise of the college basketball season,” unranked Ohio State pulled off a 17-point second-half comeback to knock off the No. 1-ranked Blue Devils in overtime at the Holiday Festival tournament at Madison Square Garden in 1978.
Duke had been riding a six-game winning streak entering the matchup, which featured a 23-point performance from Ohio State center Herb Williams. All but three of his points came in the second half alone.
Buckeye head coach Eldon Miller’s third Ohio State team would not reach the NCAA Tournament that season though, while Bill E. Foster’s second-to-last Duke team lost in the first round that year.
Dec. 29, 1966: OSU 83, Duke 82
The last of three meetings between the two teams in the 1960s and Ohio State’s first at Duke, the Buckeyes managed to edge out a one-point win over the Blue Devils in North Carolina during the 1966-67 season.
After losing in either the national final or the national semifinal in three of the past four seasons, the ‘66-67 season was a down year for Vic Bubas’ Duke squad, which featured two future NBA players on its roster in Bob Verga and Mike Lewis.
Fred Taylor’s Ohio State team finished 13-11 on the year, with forwards Bill Hosket and Ron Sepic leading the way as the team’s two top scorers.
Dec. 30, 1964: OSU 89, No. 8 Duke 94
In Duke’s first-ever trip to Columbus to take on the Buckeyes in 1964, it took the eighth-ranked Blue Devils two overtimes to down unranked Ohio State 94-89 at St. John Arena.
Bubas’ team went on to finish No. 10 in the AP Poll that year, while Taylor’s team, led by Sepic and senior guard Dick Ricketts, closed the year out 12-12 with no postseason appearance.
Dec. 6, 1963: No. 7 OSU 75, No. 4 Duke 76
The first meeting between the two teams set the tone for an all-time series that has featured close games far more often than not, as the fourth-ranked Blue Devils took a one-point win over seventh-ranked Ohio State at the Centennial B-ball Classic in Morgantown, West Virginia.
Taylor’s Buckeyes were in the final year of a run in which they won five-straight regular season Big Ten Championships, which began with their national title win in 1960. Senior center Gary Bradds averaged 30.6 points per game and 13.4 rebounds per game for the Buckeyes in 1963-64.
Duke finished No. 3 in the AP Poll in the 1963-64 season, losing to eventual national champion and No. 1-ranked UCLA in the NCAA Tournament, a team that featured both Gail Goodrich and Walt Hazzard.