NEW YORK – On Washington’s first possession of the game, Mason Plumlee made a statement about who would rule the paint. Facing the physically daunting Huskies, who feature four players 6-foot-5 or taller and grab over 10 more rebounds per game than the Blue Devils, Duke’s junior forward blocked two consecutive Washington shots with authority.
In an impressive physical performance, No. 7 Duke outmuscled Washington for a 86-80 win at Madison Square Garden on Saturday afternoon. The Blue Devils outrebounded their foes, which entered the game as the sixth-best rebounding team in the nation, 41-36 overall and 27-18 in the first half.
“I thought we rebounded well,” head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “That was one of the key things for us.”
In that first period, Duke suffocated a Huskies’ offense that was averaging 80.4 points per game prior to Saturday’s contest. Washington scored just two points in the game’s first five-and-a-half minutes, and finished the first 20 minutes with just 26 overall, its second lowest total for a half this season.
6-foot-6 combo guard Terrence Ross, the Huskies’ leading scorer on the year, was held to just two points in the first half on 1-of-8 shooting. Tony Wroten notched 9 points in the period but the Blue Devils forced him to commit five turnovers in that span.
“We dug ourselves in a big hole in that first half,” Wroten said. “We were a little bit shell-shocked and on the whole not playing like we usually play.”
Offensively, Duke benefited from the health of Andre Dawkins, who left Wednesday’s game with back spasms. In his second consecutive game coming off the bench, Dawkins responded with an efficient first half in which he contributed 14 of his 17 points on 5-of-9 shooting.
Austin Rivers, Ryan Kelly and Mason Plumlee also finished in double digits for the Blue Devils. Plumlee—despite going just 2-of-11 from the charity stripe—contributed 12 points and a team-high nine boards, with two blocks and three steals on the defensive end.
The second half was a different story, however, with the Washington offense coming alive and making noise down the stretch. The offense thrived when head coach Lorenzo Romar was forced to play a smaller unit with four guards after 7-foot center Aziz N’Diaye injured his knee less than a minute into the half. Down 17 at the time, the Huskies slowly crawled back into the game, finally whittling the lead down to single digits with 2:48 to play.
“We had to go small, just spread and try to take advantage of whichever big they had guarding one of our smaller guys,” Romar said. “I think in this particular game it did [help us]…. They played with two big guys the entire time.”
But, the Blue Devils were never in a position to forfeit the lead. Their slimmest margin was up six points with under a minute to play in the second half, in which the Huskies displayed their offensive potential with 54 points. Kelly was key for Duke in the second period, when he notched 10 of his 16 points.
Duke was able to fend off the Washington comeback even though Rivers and Seth Curry each fouled out with a few minutes remaining. Quinn Cook was the beneficiary of those open minutes, hitting key free throws down the stretch in a game that the Blue Devils hit just 27 of their 44 attempts.
“The last couple minutes I thought we were flawless,” Krzyzewski said. “Quinn Cook really gave us some huge minutes handling the ball and going 4-for-6 from the line.”
Duke now has a break for finals and next sees action Dec. 19 against UNC-Greensboro.
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