The Duke basketball team came away with a hard-fought victory against Florida State on Monday night as the Blue Devils will get a couple of much needed few days off.
There were a lot of question marks headed into Monday night when the No. 7 Duke Blue Devils met the No. 8 Florida State Seminoles.
Duke was coming off of a major emotional high in its win over North Carolina and then had to turn around in about 48 hours to play one of the best teams in the country in Florida State.
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The Blue Devils have typically been a slow-starting team but Duke raced out to a 10-point lead in the first half, but tired legs would eventually show as Florida State came back to lead, although it was only as many as two points.
Mike Krzyzewski‘s team would have answer after answer for Florida State which ended in a 70-65 victory for the Blue Devils.
In what many would expect to be an off-shooting night for Duke, the Blue Devils were surprisingly efficient from the field, going 23-of-51 from the floor (45.1 percent), 7-of-17 from 3-point range (41.2 percent), and 17-of-22 from the free throw line (77.3 percent).
Duke dished out 13 assists on its 23 made shots and out-rebounded the Seminoles, 39-36, while racking up six steals and five blocks in the victory.
Eight of the ten Blue Devils that played on Monday night scored for the Duke and four of those players reached double-figures.
Duke held Florida State to just 37.9 percent shooting from the field (25-of-66) and 16.7 percent from 3-point range (3-of-18) while the Blue Devils continue its string of good luck when it comes to their opponents at the free throw line as Florida State only made 60.0 percent from the charity stripe (12-of-20).
The win separated Duke and Florida State in the ACC standings as the Blue Devils move into sole possession of second place and trail the Louisville Cardinals for first place in the conference’s regular season standings.