Duke’s win last night was one that came down to the final minutes, and one that came in spite of the team’s cold shooting.
Downing N.C. State 78-73, the Blue Devils experienced one of their best defensive nights and one of their worst offensive nights Thursday at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The night’s shooting woes were foretold in the opening minutes, as the first points on the board were put up by Josh Hairston after three minutes of play, with Duke already trailing 8-0.
“I think it was more of their defense because they blocked a lot of shots earlier, and I think we started looking for the block,” head coach Mike Krzyzewski said of his team’s offensive struggles. “I thought they played a great first half, and their defense was quick. We didn’t really get a lot of easy looks, although we did miss three dunks in the game.”
After Hairston’s shot went in, though, the home team’s luck didn’t change. Seth Curry soon left the court with an ankle injury, returning midway through the half, and went to the locker room with only five points under his belt.
Austin Rivers went cold as well, and could not seem to find the basket, finishing the half with three free-throw points and zero from the field.
The Blue Devils posted abysmal first-half numbers, shooting 11-for-36 from the field and just 2-for-14 from beyond the arc. Duke started the game sluggish and sloppy, coming close to losing the ball on multiple occasions and slipping on the court. Throughout the contest, however, the Blue Devils regained composure, leading the Wolfpack at the end of the game in steals and recording fewer turnovers.
The transformation came with 11:33 remaining in the half, when Duke went on a 11-point run over a 3-minute span to close the lead to single-digits.
“We just kept fighting. Nobody quit, and we were down a lot late in the game, but we just tried to keep fighting,” Curry said. “We’ve been in this situation before, and we knew we could come back, and we did.”
Curry proved crucial throughout that entire stretch, providing some much-needed energy and momentum, and carrying that on to another 10-point run sparked with 3:41 remaining. The guard ended with a game-high 26 points on 50-percent shooting.
“Seth was incredible, and they had a hard time defending him on the wing,” Krzyzewski said. “He and Austin had a couple of things that kept working.”
With Curry’s prompting, Rivers found his fire, too, propelling Duke to its first lead of the game with just over two minutes remaining, making a crucial three to make it 72-71 and finishing with 16 points.
Despite the pair’s strong performance to finish the game, the Blue Devils still saw their worst field goal percentage of the season at 36 percent.
Even with the team’s shooting woes, though, the Blue Devils managed to notch the win in this season’s biggest home comeback.
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