If you had to draw up a list of the greatest Duke games, most of us would put the Laettner game (Kentucky ‘92), the Gone In 54 Seconds game, the Austin Rivers game, the Tre Jones game, and everyone would have a few personal favorites.
In our opinion, the greatest game though has to be Duke’s win over UNLV in 1991.
Why?
Well several reasons really.
First, UNLV was undefeated and had beat Duke senseless the year before. Second, that team was widely seen as unbeatable. Third, it was the game, as much as any, that put Duke in a different orbit. And fourth, it was one of the most dramatic, spine tingling games in college basketball history.
Before this game, Duke was seen as a lovable underdog that could get to the Final Four but not win it.
And after, Duke became something else.
To Duke fans, it became what most of us now think of as Duke Basketball. And for Duke haters, it was where Duke turned into something else too, the biggest, baddest heavyweight in college basketball.
You can ask them about that if you’d like. We’ll focus on the ascent. This was an amazing moment, an amazing game, a beautiful bit of basketball history.
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