Kyle Filipowski explains how second round loss to Tennessee in 2023 fueled Duke this season

Duke advanced to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament with an absolutely dominant 93-55 second-round win over James Madison on Sunday. Making it past the first weekend of March Madness for the first time under second-year head coach Jon Scheyer.

The Blue Devils fell to Tennessee in the second round of last year’s tournament in a 13-point loss to the Volunteers. And after their most recent win, Kyle Filipowski and Jared McCain were asked about how much last year’s elimination loss motivated the team this season.

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“Obviously Jared wasn’t here last year to experience what we went through, but none of us forgot about what happened with Tennessee in the second round,” Filipowski said. “I think that just added a little bit more fire to us, to the returning guys, and we knew it was going to be a similar type of game. I think we learned our lesson playing last year. We didn’t want to repeat that at all. Just learned and moved on from that and I think that showed tonight.”

Duke’s starting lineup featured four true freshmen last season along with veteran Jeremey Roach. Matched up with a Tennessee team loaded size and plenty of veteran experience in last year’s NCAA Tournament.

But this year three key freshmen returned to the Blue Devils and three total starters from last season’s team. Along with the addition of McCain, who’s led the team in scoring in both of their NCAA Tournament games so far. Highlighted by a 30-point performance versus JMU where he set a new program record for made 3-pointers in an NCAA Tournament game with eight.

“I was watching that game last year, so we’ve been talking about all year how in the Tournament, people get more physical and just try to punk you, and we were not going to let that happen,” McCain said. “I wanted to win for all these guys, especially after what happened last year, so we’re just going to keep going.”

It’s clear the Blue Devils are highly motivated, and will surely have to bring their A-game in Dallas on Friday as they take on No. 1 seed Houston at 9:39 p.m. ET in a Sweet Sixteen matchup airing on CBS.