Proceeding a short hiatus, the Duke basketball squad will have another opportunity to remain as the No. 1 seed over a two-day period. Sitting atop the collegiate polls for the first time since Feb. 21, 2011, the Blue Devils (9-0) will take its home court for the first of two home matchups when they face Cornell (4-6) on Wednesday night.

In their last matchup on Dec. 8, Duke dominated Temple by a score of 90-67. The team then moved up to the top spot in the nation when Indiana faltered in OT to Butler on Saturday.

"We're proud of it. I think it's a lot different than a preseason ranking. We feel like we've earned it, not like we've been given anything. (But) if we don't get any better during the season, we're not going to be No. 1 at the end of the season," forward Mason Plumlee explained to ESPN.

Altogether this month, the Blue Devils are putting up an average of 80.0 points and hold a 50.0 shooting percentage. To top it off, Duke dominated in its two matchups against Delaware and Temple this month by a 178-117 margin.

Overall this season, Duke has squashed their opposition by an average of 16.1 points. Plumlee, who is the team's top-ranked shooter at 61.1 percent, also spoke about the demands of being the NCAA's top team.

"We even know when we watch film on a team that they'll be a different team against us because that's almost always the case. They'll shoot a little better, play a little better and maybe the No. 1 ranking adds to that. We consistently get teams' best (effort)," Plumlee added.

CLICK HERE to watch Duke take on Cornell via free live stream. Coverage of the NCAA basketball game is set to begin at 7 p.m. EST on Wednesday, Dec. 19.

Tags
NCAA Basketball, Television