Often criticized Duke basketball star keep hot streak going in victory over Notre Dame

The Duke basketball team is hopeful it will look back at the week Mark Mitchell had and say it was a turning point in the season.

It certainly seems to be a turning point in his season.

After Mitchell silenced some haters, including his own father, with a career-high 21 points against Syracuse on Tuesday night, he had an even better encore performance for the Blue Devils on Saturday night in its 67-59 victory over Notre Dame (6-9, 1-3 ACC).

The sophomore set a new career high with 23 points, scoring 19 in the second half, on 8-of-12 shooting and made both of his attempts from 3-point land in the second half after entering the game 1-of-22 from beyond the arc.

Mitchell did not make a field goal in the first half, shooting 0-for-3 from the floor but saw all four of his points come from the free throw line, yet went 8-for-9 after halftime, similar to Duke against the Orange in which they missed every 3-pointer attempted in the first half and did not miss in the second half.

He had the final two points for the Blue Devils of the first half at the free throw line and then scored 14 straight points to begin the second half for Duke.

It was not only a career night for Mark Mitchell in scoring, but rebounding as well as the Kansas native pulled down 14 rebounds in the victory.

Jeremy Roach was the only other player to have an efficient night with 18 points on 4-of-9 shooting.

Jared McCain's torrid stretch came to an end after the rookie was just 4-for-13, 2-of-9 from 3-point range, with 11 points and Kyle Filipowski continued to struggle with just seven points on 2-of-12 shooting.

It marked the sixth straight victory for the No. 14 Blue Devils (11-3, 2-1 ACC) and its first true road win of the season after dropping its previous two against Arkansas and Georgia Tech.

The road trip continues for Duke on Tuesday night (9:00 p.m. ET, ESPN) as the Pittsburgh Panthers (10-5, 1-3 ACC) play host to the 5-time champions.