The Duke basketball program canceled its remaining slate of nonconference games Thursday, citing an abundance of caution because of the ongoing pandemic and a desire to provide time for players to spend time with family over the holidays. The decision affects just one currently scheduled game -- a Dec. 19 meeting with Gardner Webb -- but also means postponed games against Elon and Charleston Southern would not be made up.
"Making sure that we're doing the right thing for our players, just for safety, we're not going to play any [remaining] nonconference games," Krzyzewski said in a video statement. "We're not going to try to reschedule. We could try to reschedule three games, but we're not going to do that. We're going to play conference and hopefully get to play all of them.
"We're also going to allow our team to go home for Christmas," he added. "These kids need to be with their families for a little bit at least."
Canceling the Gardner-Webb game and choosing not to reschedule other games allows for Duke players to have nearly a two-week layoff between the team's conference-opener against Notre Dame on Dec. 16 and the second conference game against Pitt on Dec. 29.
With that, Duke ends its bumpy nonconference portion of the schedule at 2-2 as it preps for league play next week. The 2-2 start -- with home losses to Michigan State and Illinois -- is Duke's worst since the 1999-2000 season.
