Duke 81, Miami 74, Final: Miami couldn't weather the storm that Duke brought out of the locker room after half time, and the Blue Devils will pick up a hard-fought road win tonight behind 22 points from Kyle Singler and 21 from Nolan Smith. Both players really picked up their games in the second half, and Scheyer made some timely 3-pointers as well when Miami threatened to regain the lead. It was great to see Singler take over the game right after intermission, and he certainly played like an All-American for those first two minutes of the period as well as the rest of the half. Duke showed great resilience overall tonight in rallying from a substantial halftime deficit, and games like this one can only help the Blue Devils as they approach March and the Big Dance.
Duke 72, Miami 66, 1:32 Second Half: Duke is playing some stall ball now, but it paid off as Smith nailed another 3 from the top of the key with the shot clock winding down. Miami will need to hit some threes of its own to get back in this one, and lo and behold, James Dews just hit one out of a baseline inbounds play to give the Canes a faint glimmer of hope.
Duke 69, Miami 61, 2:39 Second Half: Duke has its largest lead of the game after Smith hits a wide open 3-pointer from the corner. Durand Scott quickly cut the lead back to eight and Frank Haith called a 30 second timeout to make one final push and hopefully regain control of a game that looked like it was Miami's for the taking at halftime.
Duke 64, Miami 59, 3:57 Second Half: Scheyer is showing why he's a leading candidate for ACC Player of the Year, as he's knocked down 3-pointers on Duke's last two possessions and had a key steal on the defensive end as well. Both teams are in the double bonus now, and Zoubek will shoot two foul shoots out of the timeout after he was fouled collecting his fourth offensive rebound of the game
Duke 61, Miami 57, 5:29 Second Half: Zoubek just picked up his fourth foul and James Dews got an easy layup in transition to make this a one-point game. Singler knocked down a pair of free throws to give Duke a bit more cushion, but with Miles Plumlee saddled with four fouls as well, Duke needs Scheyer and Smith to step up and close this one out. As soon as I typed the last sentence, Scheyer answered my call by hitting a 3-pointer and bringing the Duke lead back up to four points.
Duke 54, Miami 52, 8:00 Second Half: The atmosphere just got electric here as Miami cut the Duke lead to two points off an easy drive from Durand Scott. The foul line has kept the Canes in the game as the Blue Devils threatened to pull away, and it looks like this one is going to be a back-and-forth affair the rest of the way.
Duke 54, Miami 48, 9:28 Second Half: Reggie Johnson just nailed Nolan Smith with a screen that brought back memories of last year's incident at Maryland where Smith ended up with a concussion after running blindly into a Terp. But this time Smith is fine and he'll stay out on the floor. Singler continues to assert himself inside, taking the pressure off Zoubek to produce. Miami went back to the 2-3 zone after trying some man-to-man, but Smith just nailed a 3-pointer from the left wing.
Duke 47, Miami 42, 12:24 Second Half: Back-to-back 3-pointers from Singler and Smith have given Duke its first lead since the 17:55 mark of the first half. The Blue Devils have played much better defense this half and they're finally starting to warm up from long range. Singler has 18 already and he just tossed a great alley-oop to Mason Plumlee, pushing the Duke run to 22-5.
Duke 39, Miami 41, 15:20 Second Half:After nine straight points from Singler, Zoubek grabbed the offensive board off Scheyer's missed layup and put it in, getting fouled in the process. He missed the foul shot, but his bucket cut the Miami lead to three points, and then Scheyer made his first bucket of the game at the best possible time, hitting a 3-pointer to tie it at 39. Miami just edged back in front, but we have a game again thanks to determined play from Singler and strong finishing skills from Zoubek on the offensive glass. Let's see if Duke can extend this 14-4 run...
Duke 32, Miami 37, 18:03 Second Half: Singler opened up the half with 3-pointer, but Nolan Smith's offensive foul on Duke's next possession prevented the Devils from picking up any momentum. A steal at halfcourt, though, resulted in another Singler basket off a putback, and he scored again thanks to a strong drive to the hoop on the very next possession, posting a 7-0 run all by himself in just under two minutes.
Duke 25, Miami 37, Halftime: Not surprisingly, the Blue Devils shot an atrocious 28.6% from 3-point range in the first half. Scheyer is 0-for-6 from the field and 0-for-4 from beyond the arc—after posting 22 points on 6-of-12 shooting in Duke's last game against Maryland. Nolan Smith is 1-for-7 and has three turnovers to boot. Miami, on the other hand, shot 60% from the field and obviously gave Duke fits with a standard 2-3 zone defense. Freshman guard Durand Scott leads the Canes thus far with 11 points and Collins has 9. Zoubek was the Blue Devils' most consistent option on offense in the first half, and while 3-of-3 shooting will definitely boost the gentle giant's confidence going forward, Duke needs to get its Big Three going in the second half if it wants to pull off the comeback victory.
Duke 25, Miami 35, 32.6 seconds First Half: Adrian Thomas just set the crowd into a frenzy after he hit his second 3-pointer of the game. Nolan Smith connected from long range just before, but Duke won't be able to close this deficit if Miami is going to answer back with their own 3-pointers.
Duke 20, Miami 29, 2:oo First Half: Freshman guard Durand Scott pushed Miami's lead back to nine points after hitting a ridiculous turnaround with the shot clock expiring and banking another in on the Canes' following possession. Zoubek has scored the last six points for Duke, but just committed at least his third turnover of the game by going over the back.
Duke 20, Miami 25, 3:33 First Half: The Blue Devils continue to force passes inside rather than use the dribble to penetrate the paint. While they were able to squeeze one into Zoubek for a tough layup, the play has still been too sloppy against the zone. Scheyer is ice cold on his jump-shooting and continues to force them up from all over the court. Miami is now occasionally employing a zone press that Duke will have to contend with as well.
Duke 14, Miami 23, 7:07 First Half: The Canes have neutralized Duke's high-low post game, and the Blue Devils have been forced to kick the ball back out to the perimeter every time they attempt a post entry. Miami, on the other hand, is getting in the lane at will and making Duke pay for it. Mason Plumlee finally shattered Miami's 2-3 zone with a strong drive to the hoop and a massive one-handed slam. The freshman just showed his teammates what they will need to do if they want to get back into the game—go hard at Collins and Gamble and either make the basket or force the Hurricanes to foul.
Duke 12, Miami 18, 10:57 First Half: Miami went on a 9-0 run and Collins had six of those points. Scheyer finally drove inside but was stuffed and luckily got bailed out by a jump-ball call. Andre Dawkins stemmed the run with a 3-pointer, but Miami answered with another long ball courtesy of DeQuan Jones. Singler came back on Duke's next possession and nailed his second from deep, but Duke will not be able to close this deficit by relying on jump shots. The Blue Devils need to establish some sort of inside threat in order to open up the perimeter for open 3-pointers, rather than the contested ones they are attempting now.
Duke 6, Miami 13, 12:50 First Half: After Collins scored inside again, Coach K wasted no time replacing Miles Plumlee with Zoubek. Duke's offense has been derailed by turnovers and missed 3-pointers thus far. Collins just knocked down a pair from the foul line to give Miami a four-point lead, and the Canes came right back on their next possession and hit a 3.
Duke 6, Miami 6, 15:22 First Half: Zoubek is guarding Collins and Thomas is on Gamble, and so far both have done a great job of shutting the big men down. But the Plumlee brothers just replaced them on the floor and Collins proceeded to knock down a short fadeway over Miles. The elder Plumlee can't let Collins get hot and on the offensive end we'll look to see if Duke tries to go inside in order to get the big man in foul trouble. So far the Blue Devils have settled for outside shots, but every Duke fan knows that this team can't afford to live and die by the 3-pointer on the road.
Duke 3, Miami 2, 18:13 First Half: Lance Thomas scored the first reals points of the game after collecting two offensive boards, and he completed the 3-point play as well after getting fouled on the second putback attempt. The Canes already have two turnovers and their only basket has come on a goaltending call.
Tipoff: James Dews and freshmen Durand Scott and Garrius Adams will start in the backcourt for Miami, while Dwayne Collins and Julian Gamble will man the post. The Blue Devils counter with Nolan Smith, Jon Scheyer, Kyle Singler, Lance Thomas and Brian Zoubek, getting the start in place of Miles Plumlee for the second straight game. Duke will playing in front of a pretty sparse crowd tonight, despite the fact that the game is on ESPN. The Canes' student section is packed, but some of the surrounding sections are practically deserted. But I must note that Miami's hype video was set to the theme from "Pirates of the Caribbean," and it definitely made the highlights seem a little more epic.
Pregame: We're coming to you live from the 305 as the Blue Devils go for their fifth straight victory tonight against the Miami Hurricanes at BankUnited Center. Duke can even its road record at 4-4 if it can grab a win against Miami, but the Hurricanes have shown that they are capable of beating quality ACC opponents at home. Miami may only have three conference wins, but all have come at the BankUnited Center against Wake Forest, Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech (Va Tech and Wake are 2nd and 4th in the conference standings, respectively).
James Dews and Dwayne Collins, a pair of seniors, lead the Hurricanes in scoring and Collins should prove to be a load inside tonight. The 6-foot-8, 241 pound-forward leads the team in field goal percentage and rebounding as well. I'm guessing Lance Thomas will draw the assignment of guarding Collins and Duke will be in the driver's seat if he can contain the Miami big man.
The Canes can also shoot it from beyond the arc though, as Dews is shooting 41.1% from 3-point range and guard Malcolm Grant is second in the ACC in 3-point field goal percentage as well.
We'll see if Scheyer can continue his torrid shooting (8-for-13 from deep in his last 2 games) and it will be interesting to see if Zoubek can build off his impressive double-double against Maryland against an undersized Miami front line.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.