Mar 20, 2025; Raleigh, NC, USA; Baylor Bears guard Jeremy Roach (3) reacts throughout follow at Lenovo Middle. Necessary Credit score: Bob Donnan-Imagn Photographs RALEIGH, N.C. — There must be a familiar really feel for top-seeded Duke in its NCAA Match second-round sport with ninth-seeded Baylor on Sunday afternoon.
The Blue Devils will encounter some previous buddies, including to their experiences only a half-hour drive from campus.
Baylor guard Jeremy Roach was a Duke standout in the backcourt, taking part in a key function on the workforce’s 2022 Ultimate 4 workforce. He opted to play his remaining school season with the Bears.
“I coached him for 4 years, two as an assistant, two as a head coach,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer stated. “He is given Duke all the pieces he has.”
Duke (32-3) and Baylor (20-14) received in vastly completely different fashions in Friday’s first spherical in the East Area.
Baylor held off eighth-seeded Mississippi State in the location’s opener 75-72 earlier than Duke blew out No. 16 seed Mount St. Mary’s 93-49.
The Duke sport had no drama as soon as it started and star freshman Cooper Flagg was in the beginning lineup, again one week after struggling a sprained ankle that prompted him to miss all besides a couple of minutes of the Blue Devils’ three-game run by the Atlantic Coast Convention event. He scored 14 factors in greater than 22 minutes on the court docket in the 44-point rout.
“I used to be simply ensuring he wasn’t pacing,” Scheyer stated. “Clearly giving him just a few additional minutes, I am certain that is going to be useful for Sunday.”
So now all the main focus can look forward to the Baylor sport.
Scheyer stated there is no sense dwelling on the Roach angle at the moment of the season.
“You are taking part in the NCAA Match,” he stated. “This must be about Duke and Baylor.”
Whereas Duke’s beginning lineup consists of 4 newcomers this season, junior guard Tyrese Proctor and Roach are former backcourt mates.
“(Roach is) my boy,” Proctor stated. “He is household and it is going to be nice.”
The Bears will attempt to use Roach’s presence to their benefit.
“I am certain we’re going to decide his mind,” Baylor coach Scott Drew stated. “On the finish of the day, although, I do know he loves Duke and had an important expertise. I do know from when our previous assistants that we coach in opposition to, it is bittersweet.”
For Baylor ahead Norchad Omier, a former Miami participant, it is a matchup in opposition to a faculty he has confronted beforehand in ACC competitors.
In the meantime, there is a reunion amongst former Montverde Academy teammates Flagg and Baylor’s Robert Wright III.
“It is only a cool expertise being in this surroundings and this setting having performed collectively final yr, so it is simply actually cool,” Flagg stated.
Baylor’s shut name in opposition to Mississippi State added to the workforce’s bevy of shut outcomes, so the Bears have a look at that as a great tune-up for what’s coming subsequent.
“I feel it positively will get us prepared for a (No.) 1 seed and in a position to go on the market and compete,” Wright stated.
Omier reached a Ultimate 4 with Miami two years in the past. He would not anticipate something to come straightforward.
“It is March,” he stated. “Something can occur. We have got to be prepared for each sport to be a detailed sport.”
Duke’s 21 assists and two turnovers Friday marked the perfect single-game assist-to-turnover ratio in program historical past (10.5).
“Simply play our sport,” Proctor stated. “We have stated the entire yr, irrespective of who we play, simply play our sport.”
–Bob Sutton, Subject Degree Media
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