Mike Krzyzewski’s goal is to win games, not set records. But as a consequence, each passing victory has put Duke’s 35th-year head coach on the precipice of a record that has held the watchful gaze of the college basketball world all season.
Krzyzewski will return to the site of his last major milestone in hopes of achieving perhaps the greatest feat of his coaching career. He will lead his No. 5 Blue Devils into a matchup with St. John’s at New York City’s Madison Square Garden Sunday at 2 p.m. with the chance to become the first coach in men’s Division I basketball history to win 1,000 career games. He also earned the 903rd victory of his career at basketball’s Mecca, surpassing his mentor, Bob Knight, to become the sport’s all-time winningest head coach Nov. 15, 2011.
After capturing win No. 999 against Pittsburgh Monday night, Krzyzewski did his best to downplay his pursuit of the milestone.
“It means we’re 16-2,” Krzyzewski replied when asked of the significance of Duke’s 79-65 win against the Panthers. “That’s exactly what it means. Hopefully we can be 17-2 the next game we play, and that’s the way we approach everything.”
Despite Krzyzewski’s best efforts, the prospect of his 1,000th victory is grabbing all the headlines leading up to Duke’s showdown with the Red Storm (13-5). Blue Devil assistant coach Jon Scheyer, who as a player helped Krzyzewski earn his fourth national championship, noted that no amount of focus could keep the buzz from permeating the team’s locker room in recent weeks.
“You’re not going to hide it from them,” Scheyer said. “You feel pressure. You get tight saying, ‘Oh, we need to win this for Coach.’”
In wins No. 998 and 999, Krzyzewski showed that a coach of his experience still has to be willing to try new things. After Duke’s porous defense was exploited in back-to-back conference losses to unranked N.C. State and Miami, Krzyzewski moved away from his age-old philosophy and relied heavily on a 2-3 zone in wins against No. 6 Louisville and Pittsburgh.
The Blue Devils (16-2) have shied away from full-court pressure in their last two victories, falling back into their zone defense after made baskets and playing man-to-man after misses. Zone defenses typically leave teams vulnerable to open looks from behind the 3-point line, but St. John’s does not have a single player hitting 40 percent of their shots from beyond the arc this year.
“No matter what defense we’re playing, we need to talk and we need to do it hard, and that’s something we’ve done a good job of these last two games for the mostpart,” Scheyer said.
Even with renewed defensive confidence, Duke may have its hands full with senior D’Angelo Harrison, who leads St. John’s in scoring and averages 19.5 points per game. The 6-foot-4 guard shot just 3-of-18 in the Red Storm’s 60-57 victory against Krzyzewski disciple Steve Wojciechowski’s Marquette squad Wednesday night, but Scheyer said Harrison may be as good of a scorer the Blue Devils have seen this season.
“He’s a great player because he can play transition, he can play really well off pick and rolls, he can come off screens. He’s a very versatile scorer,” Scheyer said. “You really can’t let up in any areas. It’s not like you’re playing a really good shooter and you just need to run him off the 3-point line. He can do so many different things.”
Although Harrison could be tough for Duke to stop, freshman center Jahlil Okafor could present a bigger matchup problem for a Red Storm team that started just one player larger than 6-foot-6 in its last game. That player is 6-foot-10 St. John’s center Chris Obekpa, who ranks third in the nation with 3.53 blocks per game. And even if Obekpa is able to limit Okafor in the paint, the Chicago native has proved he can find other ways to terrorize opposing defenses.
Okafor finished with just 14 points in the Blue Devils’ last win but did so on an efficient 5-of-9 shooting and dished out five assists while seeing double- and triple-teams all evening.
After completing a stretch of four games in eight days, six days off to prepare for St. Johns was a welcome sign for Duke. No Blue Devil may be more appreciative of this than freshman Justise Winslow, who bruised a rib and took multiple hard hits to the shoulder during his team’s last contest.
Scheyer said he expected Winslow—who has scored a total of 12 points in his last three games—to be ready to go Sunday.
Reaching as high as No. 15 in the nation before dropping four of its last six games, St. John’s successful 2014-15 campaign should mean there will be plenty of red in what is normally a sea of blue at Madison Square Garden. But regardless of which team they support, all eyes—and the Big Apple’s brightest spotlight—will be shining on Duke’s 67-year-old head coach’s attempt at history.
“It means a lot because we love Coach and we want to win it,” Scheyer said. “Whenever that time comes—hopefully it is this next game—it will be a really cool thing to have with him.”
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.