Completed Event: Men's Basketball versus #7 UConn on March 29, 2026 , Loss , 72, to, 73
/
Final
Men's Basketball
72
vs #7 UConn
73
Duke in Greensboro: Home Away From Home
3/13/2010 10:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
GREENSBORO, N.C. - The Greensboro Coliseum that hosted Duke against Navy back in 1961 was a very different arena than the giant complex that is hosting the 2010 ACC Tournament.
Built in 1958-59 for a cost of $4.5 million, the Greensboro Coliseum and War Memorial Auditorium has undergone two major reconstructions, increasing capacity to 15,000 in the early 1970s and to 23,500 in the early 1990s. It was a small, 8,000-seat facility with one deck of seating when Art Heyman and company dispatched the Middies on Jan. 3, 1961.
That was the first of 114 games that Duke has played in the Greensboro Coliseum. With Friday's 57-46 victory over Virginia in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals, the Blue Devils improved their record on the Greensboro court to 81-33.
That includes a 31-15 record - and six championships - in ACC Tournament play and a 12-0 mark in the NCAA Tournament. It includes a 9-11 record -- with two titles - in the Big Four Tournament. It includes two wins in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge and a loss in the ACC/Big East Challenge. It includes six straight season opening wins in the 1960s - five coming over future ACC foe Virginia Tech. It includes four wins and three losses against Wake Forest when the Deacons played their home games in Greensboro during the 1980s.
The point is that Duke has played a very large role in the process that has made the Greensboro Coliseum -- in all its incarnations - one of the most hallowed facilities in ACC history ... certainly the most celebrated "neutral" court in the region.
It was in Greensboro that Mike Krzyzewski won his first ACC title. It was in Greensboro that Dean Smith won his first and his last ACC crowns. It was in Greensboro that Lefty Driesell and Gary Williams won their ONLY ACC championships (both edging Duke in the title game).
It was in Greensboro that Kevin Joyce out jumped Lee Dedmon to help South Carolina beat UNC in the 1971 ACC title game. It was in Greensboro that Kenny Dennard undercut Buck Williams to give Duke the 1980 ACC title game over Maryland. It was in Greensboro that Lee Foye hit a miracle buzzer-beater to help seventh-seeded Wake Forest stun North Carolina in the 1973 quarterfinals.
And it was in Greensboro that N.C. State beat Maryland 103-100 in overtime to win the 1974 ACC title and to force the NCAA to change the way it picks teams for its tournament. If that wasn't enough, it was in Greensboro two weeks after that historic game when David Thompson, Tommy Burleson and company upset UCLA in double-overtime (ending John Wooden's seven-year title run), then ripped Al McGuire and Marquette to claim the ACC's second national title.
Duke's early history in Greensboro includes a series of holiday matchups with Wake Forest in the 1960s. The non-conference games were scheduled to make up for the revenue the two Big Four programs lost with the cancellation of the Dixie Classic. Duke won all five of the extra games with the Deacs.
That series ended when the four Tobacco Road programs got together for the Big Four Tournament. Greensboro had been expanded to two decks and almost 15,000 seats when Duke split its two games in the first Big Four Tournament.
The Blue Devils didn't fare well early in the event, going 5-9 before Mike Gminski, Gene Banks and company led Duke to the 1978 Big Four title. A year later, Gminski averaged 23.5 points in victories over Wake Forest and North Carolina.
Bill Foster's kids also picked up two ACC Tournament titles in Greensboro (1978 and 1980), but it wasn't until the arrival of Mike Krzyzewski that Duke began to turn the Greensboro Coliseum into a home away from home.
Krzyzewski scored one of his first significant victories in the semifinals of the 1984 ACC Tournament, when Johnny Dawkins, Mark Alarie and company upset a No. 1 ranked North Carolina team featuring All-Americans Michael Jordan and Sam Perkins.
Krzyzewski's 1984 team would run out of gas against Maryland in the finals, but would bounce back to win the 1986 ACC title in Greensboro. His teams would repeat with Greensboro championships in 1988, 2003 and 2006.
Overall, Krzyzewski's teams are 43-14 in Greensboro -- 43-8 after an 0-6 start. Duke is 19-1 in Greensboro since losing the 1998 ACC title game to North Carolina -- and is riding a nine-game Greensboro winning streak headed into Saturday's ACC semifinal battle with Miami.
Hall of Fame basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski with a game plan for the country's future
Tuesday, March 31
Maliq Brown - Humble Beast
Tuesday, March 31
Sebastian Wilkins Big Dance Exclusive: Greenville, SC
Tuesday, March 31
Duke Press Conference After Round of 64 (3-19-26)
Tuesday, March 31
