The 2024-25 Duke basketball team’s exhibition home opener against Division II Lincoln (Pa.) at 1 p.m. ET Saturday (ACC Network Extra) will mark the first meeting between the Blue Devils and Lions.

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However, it won’t be the first trip to Cameron Indoor Stadium for the Lions’ first-year head coach in 2001-05 NC State basketball guard and 2003-04 ACC Player of the Year Julius Hodge. It will be Hodge’s head coaching debut, though, as his bunch faces the 37-year-old Jon Scheyer’s third Duke squad, boasting a preseason No. 7 ranking in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll released on Monday.

As a player, the third-leading scorer in NC State basketball history finished 2-8 versus Duke. Both of the Wolfpack’s wins were in Raleigh. Hodge’s record in Cameron was 0-3.

“I’ve learned a lot about Lincoln since we’ve scheduled to play them,” Jon Scheyer, who arrived in Durham as a player two seasons after Hodge wrapped up his college career in Raleigh, said about the HBCU school during his time on the stage at the ACC Tipoff media days last week. “They have a new coach, a coach that Duke fans know well in Julius.

“But it’s been a great honor for me ever since I was a player to play in those games [against HBCU opponents] and have that connection, and it’s something I hope we can continue to do.”

Hodge came off the board No. 20 overall at the 2005 NBA Draft but spent only two years in the league before heading overseas. He made four stops as an assistant coach before taking over the Lions’ reins.

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