Talk about a quick turnaround.
Just 48 hours after a last-minute collapse against Illinois ended Duke's 95-game non-conference win streak in Cameron Indoor Stadium, the Blue Devils must hit the hardwood again.
A reeling South Carolina State team visits Durham for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off in the once invincible home confines. The Bulldogs (1-1) will be the first team to enter Cameron after a Blue Devil non-conference loss since 1983.
"Now we have to put this behind us," junior co-captain Jeff Capel said about the end of the streak. "We don't have time to sit around and think about [the Illinois game]. We have to get ready for South Carolina State."
Preparing for the Bulldogs should prove to be less daunting than what might have been expected in the preseason. The Bulldogs, early favorites to win the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, have lost several key players since their preseason selection. Six-foot-8 senior Desi McQueen, the team's second-leading scorer and rebounder last year, was declared ineligible. Guards Jay Joyner and Aric Samuel will also have to sit out until next semester for failing to meet academic requirements.
Head coach Cy Alexander is no stranger to the Blue Devils (4-1). His squad has dropped all three career meetings with Duke, including consecutive defeats in Durham the past two seasons. The Bulldogs lost those two games by an average of 41 points.
South Carolina State will have to depend on the play of a limited roster, as three Bulldog starters have had to play 38 minutes or more in the team's first two games of the season. The squad split those games, beating North Carolina Central by five and dropping a blowout loss to South Carolina.
For the Blue Devils, this game will be a chance to erase some of the heartache of Saturday's loss.
"We can't just sit around thinking about it," Capel said. "The only time you do is after the season, and we did a lot of that after last season."
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