It’s no surprise Chris Carrawell came out of the gates highly talkative and active in his debut as acting head coach at SMU on Saturday afternoon. After all, that’s exactly how the 2000 ACC Player of the Year played while taking part in four Duke basketball regular season conference titles in as many seasons as a Blue Devil under Mike Krzyzewski.

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The 47-year-old associate head coach from St. Louis, filling in for third-year Duke basketball head coach Jon Scheyer due to an illness that prevented the 37-year-old from making the trip to Dallas, guided the No. 4-ranked Blue Devils (11-2, 3-0 ACC) to a 15-7 lead over the Mustangs (11-2, 2-0 ACC) at the first media timeout.

Carrawell has been on the Duke basketball staff since 2018. He became Coach K’s associate head coach in 2021 after Scheyer landed the title of head coach-in-waiting for the five-time national champion’s final season at the helm.

At the time of this article’s publishing, the Blue Devils, looking to extend their season-best seven-game winning streak, led the Mustangs, 28-20, with 7:31 to play in the first half.

According to the program’s official release on social media, Scheyer is expected to be back on his throne when the Blue Devils host Duke basketball alum Jeff Capel’s Pitt Panthers at 7 p.m. ET Tuesday (ESPN).

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