ATLANTA, Ga. — No. 19 Kentucky men’s basketball stunned No. 6 Duke in the 2024 StateFarm Champions Classic from State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, on Tuesday night, winning 77-72.
The result saw Head Coach Mark Pope face his first ranked opponent at Kentucky while also participating in his first ever Champions Classic, earning Kentucky’s first win in the event since 2019 and first win over Duke in the event since 2015.
Both teams entered the contest at 2-0 after Kentucky breezed by Bucknell and Wright State, never scoring fewer than 100 points, while Duke easily took care of business against Army and Maine.