Duke Basketball: Blue Devils in quest for ACC Championship vs.’Noles
It’s half-time and the Duke Basketball team is trying to win the ACC Tournament Championship in Charlotte against the Florida State Seminoles.
Like the first two games of the ACC Tournament, Mike Krzyzewski went with the same starting five of Tre Jones, Cam Reddish, R.J. Barrett, Zion Williamson, and Javin DeLaurier.
Both Duke and Florida State looked sluggish to start this game, and that was fairly expected, especially from the Blue Devils. Duke had a long, intense, stressful, and passionate win in the semifinals against North Carolina, while Florida State looked overwhelmed by the moment after taking down the Virginia Cavaliers.
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It was Florida State who settled in first, forcing turnovers and getting easy baskets in transition, leading by as many as eight in the first half, but the Blue Devils would battle back and to tie the score at 36 the first 20 minutes.
The Blue Devils were led by R.J. Barrett and Zion Williamson.
Barrett finished with 11 points, four rebounds, an assist, and three steals in the first half and after struggling with his shot early, R.J. made five of his eleven attempts, but missing both of his 3-point attempts.
As a team, Duke missed eight of its nine 3-point attempts, the lone make coming from Tre Jones.
Zion had 12 points, two rebounds, an assist, a steal, and a block, while making four of his seven attempts, also missing both of his 3-point attempts.
Cam Reddish was much more aggressive in this first half than he was in the first two games of the ACC Tournament, but it was a controlled aggression, which is the best.
Reddish had six points and two rebounds in the first half, making one of four from the field, also missing his two 3-point attempt, and making all four of his free throws.
Once again struggling with his shot, two of six, Tre Jones was able to grab three rebounds and four assists.
In the second half, Duke is going to have to find its leg and come up with a second burst of energy to win the ACC Championship. Florida State is a very deep team and are going to try and push the tempo and continue to tire out Duke.
Stay tuned to Ball Durham on Twitter, @Ball_Durham, and here at our website, balldurham.com, for complete coverage of the Duke Blue Devils vs. the Florida State Seminoles.