On Tuesday night, the Illinois basketball team will take on the Duke Blue Devils for only the eighth time in program history.
The history of the two programs going head-to-head has not been kind to the Illini, though. The last matchup came during the 2007-08 season when two 3-0 teams collided.
Illinois fell in that game 79-66 and the teams ended up going down different paths that year. Duke would finish the season 28-6 while the Illini had their first losing season in nearly a decade going 16-19.
But this loss wasn’t out of the ordinary for the Orange and Blue. It has been a quarter-century since the Fighting Illini have gotten the best of the Blue Devils.
Before the 2007-08 defeat, the Illini had lost the prior three matchups against Duke. Illinois was in the golden years of the program during this stretch, but they just happened to run into multiple NBA-ladened Duke teams.
In 2003-04, No. 13 ranked Illinois fell to No. 6 Duke 72-62. This was in the Sweet 16, so it was extra painful. Duke would go on to lose in the Final 4 to UConn.
During the 2000-01 season, the No. 9 ranked Illini had a great team poised to do some special things. Illinois legend Frank Williams and his crew went up against the No. 1 team in the land in Duke.
A tight game throughout, the Blue Devils would eventually come away with a 78-77 victory. The Illini would go onto the Elite 8 that year while Duke messed around and won a national title.
The year before that tough one-point loss to No. 1 Duke, the two programs squared off in another ranked matchup. No. 16 Illinois played a stupidly-deep No. 17 ranked Blue Devils squad. Duke would get the best of Illinois, coming away with a 72-69 victory. The Illini lost in the second round of the NCAA tournament that year while Duke would go on to the Sweet 16.
Now we finally get to the last time Illinois was able to take down Duke. Fittingly enough, it was the last season the late Lou Henson coached the program.
An unranked Illinois team went down to Cameron Indoor Stadium to take on No. 17 Duke during the 1995-96 campaign. Despite Duke getting 27 points from Jeff Capel, the Illini were just too much.
Kiwane Garris came off the bench that day for the Orange and Blue and put up a team-high 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting. The Illini would end up winning the game 75-65. Oddly enough, both teams would go on to have an 18-13 record. Illinois missed the postseason while Duke lost in the first round.
Illinois and Duke only matched up two times prior to the 1995-96 upset by the Illini. During the 1994-95 season, the No. 6 ranked Blue Devils bested the Illini 70-65. Prior to that game, Illinois actually won the first-ever matchup between the two teams. During the 1986-87 campaign, No. 14 Illinois took down an unranked Duke team 69-62.
You know the college basketball world is healthy when both Illinois and Duke are ranked and are playing against each other. These are two legendary programs that meet once again.
I want two things to start happening over the next decade. One, I want these two teams to start playing more often. It has been almost 15 years since the last matchup. Two, I want the trend to start changing in favor of the Illini. The four-game losing streak to Duke needs to stop. Hopefully, both of these things start happening with the game on Tuesday night.