The Opening Tip
- Duke men’s basketball continues its tradition of hosting HBCU conference champions in exhibition action, as the No. 7 Blue Devils welcome the Lincoln (Pa.) University Lions to Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 19 at 1 p.m., on ACC Network Extra.
- Chris Edwards and Debbie Taylor will call the action on ACC Network Extra. David Shumate and John Roth team up for the broadcast on the Blue Devil Sports Network.
About the Lincoln Lions
- Lincoln University, the nation’s first degree-granting HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities), was established as The Ashmun Institute in 1854 and renamed as Lincoln University in 1866.
- The reigning CIAA tournament champion, Lincoln returns 11 of 12 letterwinners, including the Lions’ top six scorer’s, from last season’s conference championship squad, which finished with a 17-14 overall record.
- Lincoln’s 11 returning letterwinners represent 90 percent of the team’s scoring from a year ago. (2,014 of 2,230 points)
- Three Lions back on this season’s roster averaged double digits in scoring, topped by 6-5 senior guard Bakir Cleveland (12.6) and followed by 6-1 senior guard Reggie Hudson (11.1) and 6-3 senior guard Freddie Young, Jr. (10.9).
- The 2024 CIAA Tournament title was Lincoln’s first since being acknowledged as a champion in the official list of CIAA winners in 1915 with Howard and Hampton.
- Lincoln is under the direction of first-year head coach Julius Hodge, a 2005 graduate of North Carolina State University, where he was a two-time All-ACC selection and All-American, and the 2004 ACC Men’s Basketball Player of the Year. Hodge was a first-round pick by the Denver Nuggets (20th overall) in the 2005 NBA Draft. He spent the last three seasons as the assistant men’s basketball coach at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
