The 1994-95 season was probably one of the lowest points of Mike Kryzewski’s Duke career. He had to sit out after the 12th game due to his back issues and watch his proud program collapse.
The rebuild was unbelievably fast though. In the first game of the next season, Coach K got a T within the first few minutes, and insisted that, win or lose, his team live up to Duke standards.
Advertisement
The following year things were back to the levels Duke fans had gotten used to and by late February, Duke was #2 in the nation, behind only UNC. The Tar Heels had lost to NC State 86-72 at home the day before Duke played UCLA in Cameron though, and suddenly, the Blue Devils had a shot at #1 again.
And they really embraced it, running UCLA back to Westwood, 120-82, which at the time was the most points UCLA had ever given up in a game and may still be.
In fairness to the Bruins, this was the Steve Lavin era and the team was all over the place then. You didn’t know what to expect from one day to the next from UCLA.
Plus Duke had just gotten Elton Brand back from a broken foot he suffered in December.
Advertisement
Duke scored 57 in the first half and 63 in the second, and Trajan Langdon had 34. All in all, a magical game in Cameron.
Blue Healer Auctions | Drop us a line
More from dukebasketballreport.com:
