GREENSBORO -- J.J. Redick might have struggled over his past four games, but he's not about to shy away from taking the big shots.
Duke was holding on to a 74-73 lead with less than a minute to go Friday, when Redick came through in the clutch.
Coming out of a Blue Devil timeout, the senior caught the ball at the top of the key and dribbled behind his back to shake off his defender, Miami's Guillermo Diaz. With a brief opening, he elevated and released one of his picture-perfect jumpers. The ball rattled through the rim to give Duke a three-point lead and the slightest bit of breathing room in a game that featured 22 lead changes.
The Blue Devils (28-3) held on to defeat Miami (16-15), 80-76, snapping a two-game losing streak and advancing to the semifinals of the ACC Tournament.
Redick broke out of his recent offensive slump, nailing five threes to finish with a game-high 25 points.
"Tie game we're going to him, down two we're going to him," freshman Greg Paulus said of Redick. "He's been making big shots his whole career down here so we feel very confident when he has the ball in his hands."
After Lee Melchionni added two free throws, Diaz sank a deep three to close the gap to two, 78-76. But Robert Hite fouled Redick while Duke was inbounding the ball, and he made both free throws with six seconds remaining to ice the game.
The first half was just as close as the second, with neither team building
more than a six-point lead. The Hurricanes, however, closed the period on a 9-2 run that gave them a six-point advantage, 41-35, at the break.
"We did not play a good first half and that was obvious," Melchionni said.
"As a result of that we really had to come out, pick things up and change the way we were playing in the second half if we wanted to win."
At halftime the Blue Devils spoke about how they needed to shoot with more confidence, especially since Miami's zone defense was leaving Duke with some open looks, DeMarcus Nelson said.
Coming out of the locker room, the Blue Devil role players stepped up. Paulus and Nelson hit back-to-back threes to tie the game just 24 seconds into the half, and Shelden Williams and Redick combined to score five more points to cap an 11-1 spurt.
"It was big because it got us back in the game," Redick said. "If they had started on a 10-0 run, we might be in the losing locker room right now but even after that run, they battled and it was back and forth."
Redick's deep three forced Miami to call a timeout, which curbed Duke's momentum and enabled the Hurricanes to get back in the game.
Miami's Anthony King scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half and also grabbed nine offensive rebounds. It seemed as if every time the Blue Devils appeared to have stopped the Hurricanes, he hauled in a board and drew a foul.
He made 10-of-12 foul shots during the game.
"They kept making some big shots," Paulus said. "They rebounded the ball very well defensively. We tried to run away from them, get in a little bit of a spurt, but they kind of shut down that momentum and kept fighting back."
In his first postseason game as a Blue Devil, Paulus had an exceptional game, dishing out five assists and notching three steals without turning the ball over.
The Blue Devils held Miami to 42.9 percent shooting, and Nelson said the team played better defense Friday after a string of lackluster efforts. He added his teammates and he still need to rotate quicker so they aren't killed on the offensive glass, where Miami held a seven-rebound advantage.
Duke was happy to put its losing streak behind it and is focused on capturing the league title Sunday.
"It was a good win for us," Redick said. "We need to treat this weekend as something to win, something to have fun with, not as do or die."
NOTES:
Four Blue Devils finished in double digits, including DeMarcus Nelson's seventh straight game of 10 or more points. He hit 4-of-7 shots from beyond the arc.... Duke was out-rebounded 46-32.... Down the stretch, the majority of the Greensboro Coliseum crowd of 23,745 was actively rooting against the Blue Devils, who have won seven of the last eight ACC Tournament titles. But the players certainly didn't seem to mind the atmosphere. "Seems like when we play everybody joins together, but we like that," Sean Dockery said. "We like playing against the reds, the light blues, the greens, whatever color. We like that. It's kind of fun out there seeing everyone go against us."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.