Jon Scheyer was in the stands for the 2001 national championship game between Duke and Arizona, and he was sitting in an Arizona section. Years later, that experience informed his thinking in setting up a home-and-home series with Arizona — the first game of which is set to take place Friday night.

“I remember being at that game and wanting to play games like that — and then Lute Olson recruited me,” Scheyer told reporters this week. “Arizona was one of my final three schools. So, personally, I have a lot of respect for Arizona, the program that they have, and Tommy.

“They’ve done it for a long time and so have we. So for me, it made sense when you’re looking for a partner to do a true home-and-home with. It felt right to do it with these guys.”

Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said earlier this week that games like this one are becoming harder and harder to schedule.

Made-for-TV events like the Champions Classic — Duke plays Michigan State next Tuesday in Chicago — have taken over. With longer league schedules, annual conference-to-conference matchups, and a push for more neutral site meetings, a program like Arizona going to a place like Cameron Indoor Stadium for a regular-season non-con game is special.

“I called Jon when he got the job and I just thought it would be a great idea for both of us to play a game like this,” Lloyd said. “Scheduling in college basketball’s getting harder and harder, for whatever reason. Anytime you get an opportunity to get two programs of an Arizona and a Duke stature to meet on the other’s court, I think it’s pretty cool.”

Lloyd said he and Scheyer will cross paths on the recruiting trail, they’ll touch base with one another over the course of a season, and there’s a mutual respect there. Lloyd says it’s generally harder than most would think to set up a series like this, but this particular instance was a fairly easy process.

The game itself doesn’t need much billing.

“Listen, it’s Arizona vs. Duke. I think that’s enough said right there,” Lloyd said. “Hopefully, you have two great teams that are gonna have an epic early-season battle. I think that’d be great for college basketball.”

Tipoff is at 4 p.m. PT on ESPN2.