Finally, Cameron had something to get crazy about. For the first time in nearly two years, Duke beat an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent with relative ease as it rolled past Florida State 85-65 on Saturday night.
Not since Feb. 20, 1994, when the Blue Devils beat N.C. State 85-58, has Duke (11-6, 2-4 in the ACC) beaten a conference foe by 20 or more points. Florida State (10-5, 2-3 in the ACC) leaves Cameron's confines winless again, after its sixth unsuccessful attempt to knock off the Blue Devils at home.
"It's been a long time since we've been able to put a team away like that," senior Chris Collins said. "It feels good. We're learning how to play well with one another."
Duke led by only three at halftime after trailing for much of the first half. But the Blue Devils went on a 17-2 run in the first four minutes of the second stanza that put the them in cruise control. Those four minutes included a blind wrap-around pass under the basket from junior Jeff Capel to junior Greg Newton for a slam dunk, followed shortly thereafter by a dunk from Capel himself, as well as a steal and a breakaway dunk by junior Carmen Wallace. The offensive displays helped to ignite the crowd and the team.
"When we come down and execute, hit a three, or we get a steal and get a dunk, those are all confidence builders," sophomore Ricky Price said. "When the crowd gets into it, it raises our confidence."
But with 16 minutes still remaining, the Blue Devils could not get too confident.
"After Florida State called a time out, I said `This game is far from over and this is the time when you need to jump on a team--when they're down a little bit,'" Collins said.
Duke was able to maintain its consistency and put the Seminoles away. The Blue Devils doubled their lead to 26 with six minutes remaining, and the Duke bench began to see action. The reserves helped to preserve the lead and the win, as FSU could get no closer than 20.
"This is great for our team," Price said. "We won against [N.C. State], but to beat up on somebody is good for our team. An ACC team, an ACC win and a blowout all equal confidence builders for Duke."
A big key for the Blue Devils was their defense. In the second half, Duke committed six fouls, yet it managed to keep Florida State away from the free-throw line for nearly 14 minutes. The Blue Devils forced 20 Seminole turnovers, while only recording 11 of their own, just four of which came in the second half. It was the first time this season that the Seminoles have had a negative assist-turnover ratio.
"All of a sudden the tide turns, the crowd gets into it and [Duke] hits shot after shot." FSU head coach Bob Kennedy said. "They shot the ball well and they broke us down."
Duke's leading scorer was Capel who totaled 20 points, hitting 4-for-8 of his three-point shots as well as pouring in five assists. Collins also hit four three-pointers and had six assists to finish with 16 points.
"Capel was really strong tonight," Krzyzewski said. "He was strong with the ball and if he does that then we're just a much better basketball team."
"They were in a zone and they were really packing it inside," Collins said. "We did a good job of penetrating the gaps and finding shooters and knocking the shots down. We feel we've got the kind of shooters that if we get the open looks, we're going to knock them down over 50 percent of the time."
Duke's big men were also a presence inside. Newton pulled down seven rebounds as well as hitting 5-of-6 shot attempts, finishing with 16 points. Freshman Taymon Domzalski played a key role in the game as Newton was forced to the bench with foul trouble in both halves.
The game did not begin so easily for the Blue Devils. FSU's James Collins hit a layup only four seconds into the game, and from that point on Duke struggled to remain close to the Seminoles.
FSU slowly built up an eight-point lead with just under 10 minutes to go in the half, and it was still up by five at the three-minute mark, until two three-pointers by Collins and another by Capel erased the lead and put Duke up by two. Junior Carmen Wallace's putback at the buzzer gave Duke its biggest lead of the game--three points--heading into the locker room.
"[Florida State's] transition game kind of knocked us back in the first 10 or 12 minutes but I thought from that point on we played outstanding defense," Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said.
The game marked the first time that all the Blue Devils played consistently until the buzzer, and everyone played well as a team.
"Once we got that win at State, we looked at each other, and we knew we can really win and be competitive in this conference," Price said. "Now we come out and win by 20 points. Who knows what we're going to do our next game?
"We're getting better each and every time we hit the floor, and everything is positive for us right now."
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