After Duke’s 74-63 win, Nolan Smith had no idea he had blood on his shorts. When it was pointed out to him, he looked at the droplets incredulously.
Then he remembered that it was the ACC opener, after all. Red badges like that come with the territory.
“First ACC game there’s always going to be a little bloodshed,” Smith said.
Buoyed by the senior’s season-high 28 points, the Blue Devils topped Miami in a hard-fought ACC opener that saw 35 total fouls. The win was never easy, but head coach Mike Krzyzewski was pleased with his team’s performance in its first conference test of the year.
“It was a very tough game against a really good team,” Krzyzewski said. “And I thought our kids did a nice job against them.”
The game’s early action saw four lead changes and a seemingly unstoppable Hurricanes’ frontcourt, which was led by center Reggie Johnson, who scored Miami’s first seven points. But Johnson would pick up two quick fouls and after he was relegated to the bench, the Hurricanes never again held the lead.
Miami did keep the contest close, though, and Duke maintained only a two-point edge with five minutes to go in the first half.
That’s when Smith took over.
With 5:02 left in the opening period, the senior hit a jumper to push the lead to two. Then on the Blue Devils’ next possession, he knocked down a three. Then another. Then another.
His final 3-pointer, made possible by an assist and a screen from Mason Plumlee, ended with the guard exaggerating his form and looking down in disbelief at his incredibly hot hand.
“Nolan was spectacular tonight,” Krzyzewski said. “He’s been good all season, but tonight with it being an ACC game, he was a game-changer.”
“Whenever I get into a groove like that the coaches call my number, and I make the shots,” Smith said.
In addition to his offensive prowess, Smith played lockdown defense on one of the ACC’s better guard duos. Helped by Andre Dawkins, he caused Durand Scott and Malcolm Grant to enter halftime with only five combined points. Both Scott and Grant would finish the game a less-than-stellar 4-for-13 from the floor.
“We’re going to play against great guards like that all year in this conference,” Smith said. “There are a lot of other great guards like those two, so for us to do that shows that we can defend.”
Duke’s lead never dipped below nine in the second half, but that wasn’t for a lack of effort from Miami’s Johnson, who exploded in the second period for 15 points and seven rebounds while going 7-for-7 from the floor.
The unenviable task of guarding Johnson partly fell to Ryan Kelly, who had three blocks in the game but struggled along with the Plumlee brothers to guard the sophomore.
“We were trying to keep him out of the paint as much as possible,” Kelly said. “We knew that he was really good at getting his own shots off offensive rebounds. But today, he didn’t miss too many shots to have to offensive rebound.”
Duke’s win over Miami represented not only the opening game of the ACC slate for the Blue Devils, but the first major contest the team has played without Kyrie Irving.
And the freshman guard’s absence from the court was felt. Seth Curry struggled at the point guard slot, finishing the game 0-for-4 with four fouls. Smith and Kyle Singler felt the effects of a seven-man rotation, with both playing 40 minutes.
“It’s a different team [without Irving]. It’s not a well-oiled machine,” Krzyzewski said. “We’re not a dominant team but we’ve got time.”
Irving’s status is still in the air and surgery, which would most likely mean the end of his season, continues to be a possibility.
One thing that is definite, though, is Krzyzewski’s insistence that the real season—the conference season—begins now for Duke.
“We try to impress on our guys… that you don’t play for your total record. You play for your ACC record,” Krzyzewski said. “That’s just the way we’ve approached it, especially since the mid-‘90’s, and I think we get better as a result of doing that.”
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