RALEIGH – It’s time to revisit a stat that was mentioned ahead of Duke basketball’s first road game of the season.

The Blue Devils didn’t have a losing record on the road in any of their five national championship seasons.

Following a 4-6 finish on the road in head coach Jon Scheyer’s debut season, Duke had a 7-4 road record this year.

After starting with back-to-back road losses, Duke won seven of its final nine games away from Cameron Indoor Stadium, including Monday’s 79-64 win at NC State.

Because of that victory, one that put memories of a 24-point loss last year in Raleigh to rest, the ninth-ranked Blue Devils (26-4, 15-4 ACC) will have a chance to win at least a share of the ACC regular-season championship in their finale against No. 7 UNC (23-6, 15-3) on Saturday in Durham.

“It’s a lot of growth. You have to be tough to win on the road,” Scheyer said Monday night at PNC Arena.

“We lose our first two road games – I don’t know exactly what our record is since then, but I know it’s really good. … This group, you gotta go through some stuff. We have and I didn’t even bring up last year to this team. I don’t think I had to.”

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Jeremy Roach, a senior captain for the Blue Devils, remembers NC State’s 15-0 run to start last season’s game.

“That’s all we were thinking about,” said Roach, who scored a team-high 21 points in his best road performance of the season.

“We didn’t want that to happen again.”

Toughness was the buzzword for Scheyer after Duke’s final road game. He went on to highlight the development of the Blue Devils’ bench players, particularly freshman Sean Stewart.

Stewart played a season-high 23 minutes at NC State, finishing with a season-high three blocks to go with 12 points and five rebounds. In Duke's first two road games, Stewart played a total of five minutes.

“Road games, you gotta be extra locked in,” Stewart said. “We take real pride in our scout and practice, and being locked in on the other team’s plays.”

That increased aggression and intense focus on the details helped the Blue Devils become road warriors.

Pointing to the past as evidence, success on the road in the regular season is something that could power Duke to a deep run in the 2024 NCAA Tournament.

Staff writer Rodd Baxley can be reached at rbaxley@fayobserver.com or @RoddBaxley on X/Twitter. 

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: What Duke basketball's road success could mean for NCAA Tournament