Duke had a lot more trouble scheduling Saturday’s game than they did winning it.
First Cleveland State had Covid issues, so Loyola of Maryland was the backup. Then the backup had Covid issues and the backup’s backup, Elon, was brought in.
All of this had to be within certain parameters - the opponent had to be that is - so it was not necessarily an easy thing to get done.
Remember last year, when the end of the non-conference part of the schedule was just scrapped?
But Elon, coached by former Duke staffer Mike Schrage, was a good fit for what Duke needed so the game was back on.