Duke Basketball: Coach K wins 1,000th game at Duke

Mike Krzyzewski won his 1,000th game at Duke on Saturday night against Utah Valley. His new crop of freshmen led the way to the historic blowout win.

After Saturday night, Duke Blue Devils Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski is “Coach K” in more ways than one. He became the first* head coach to win 1,000 games at a single D-I school when Duke blew out the Utah Valley Wolverines 99-69 at Cameron Indoor.

For a college coach to be successful, they have to be an as good or better recruiter than they are an actual coach. Krzyzewski’s acumen at the former was on full display in his 1,000th win. Duke started four freshmen around Grayson Allen and used an all-freshman lineup to catch and pull away from Utah Valley midway through the first half.

All five Duke starters played 30 minutes or more and scored in double figures. Marvin Bagley III became the first Duke freshman to begin his career with back-to-back double-doubles. He led all scorers with 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.

Allen did not score until the final 2:42 of the first half but finished with 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting, 4-of-6 from 3-point range.

Guard Trevon Duval had a double-double with points (15) and assists (12). The 6-foot-3 freshman has a 20-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio so far this season.

The 7-foot Oklahoma transfer Akolda Manyang led the Wolverines with 17 points and 12 rebounds.

In an interesting coincidence, Coach K accomplished this feat on Veterans Day.  Krzyzewski graduated from West Point and served in the Army from 1969 to 1974. He also coached at West Point where he won 73 more games.

What’s Next

No. 1 Duke’s (2-0) schedule gets considerably more difficult in a hurry. The Blue Devils’ next game is on Tuesday in Chicago. They play No. 2 Michigan State in the State Farm Champions Classic.

Utah Valley’s schedule will never be this hard again. They played No. 5 Kentucky in Rupp the day before they played the top-ranked team in the country, They led in both games and only lost to the Wildcats by 10. The Wolverines were picked to finish around the middle of the WAC after finishing last season 17-17. If they play like they did in these first two games against juggernauts in their own buildings, they could challenge Grand Canyon atop the WAC.

Next: Wake Forest bowl eligible after Syracuse shootout

*There is going to be a debate forever about if Coach K really is the first coach to reach this milestone. Jim Boeheim has 1,005 wins. However, he was forced to vacate 101 wins by the NCAA for various infractions. This will be even more vigorously debated by Syracuse fans because Boeheim might not ever get those 101 wins back. He is no longer retiring after this season, but it will take at least five years to win 100 games. Syracuse hasn’t won 20 games in a season since the 2013-2014 season.