Duke basketball caps off brutal stretch with strong win against Florida State
Final. 65. 435. 70. 434
The Duke basketball team finished off its toughest stretch of games with a hard-fought victory over the Florida State Seminoles on Monday night.
Three road games against Syracuse, Boston College, and North Carolina capped off with a home game against No. 8 Florida State?
How many wins would you be satisfied with after those four games? Two? Thrilled with three?
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Well, Duke went a clean 4-0 in those games with its latest victory coming against No. 8 Florida State in Cameron, 70-65.
The way in which Duke started and finished the game was truly impressive after coming off an emotional overtime win 48 hours prior against the Tar Heels.
Four of the ten players that saw action for the Blue Devils scored at least ten points and eight of the ten players scored for Duke in its win.
Tre Jones and Jordan Goldwire paced Duke with 13 points each, however, Goldwire was an impressive 5-for-5 from the field and 3-of-3 from 3-point range, although the junior did not play the final two minutes after leaving with what looked like cramping.
Goldwire leaving the game might have been a blessing in disguise for Duke because it forced Mike Krzyzewski to put Matthew Hurt on the floor who hit four clutch free throws and a game saving offensive rebound with approximately 11 seconds left in the game.
Hurt was substantially better than he was on Saturday against North Carolina where he did not score and picked up four fouls in seven minutes.
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The freshman responded with 12 points and two rebounds, 2-of-4 from the field and 6-of-6 from the free throw line, coming off the bench.
Monday night was a very good win for the Blue Devils, but the major concerning sign for Duke was the 21 turnovers that Florida State forced. Sixteen of those turnovers were steals by the Seminoles and it was largely in part due to Duke just not being strong with the ball.
Vernon Carey Jr. notched his 12th double-double of the season with ten points and ten rebounds while Cassius Stanley just fell short with nine points and seven rebounds.
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Duke improved to 21-3 on the season and 11-2 in ACC play while moving into sole possession of second place, trailing the Louisville Cardinals by one game for the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament.
The Blue Devils will remain in Durham to face the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Saturday, February 15 at 4:00pm EST on ESPN.