Well that was a corker.
If you don’t have a rooting interest Miami’s 76-74 win over Duke was about as pulsating as it comes, with lead change after lead change—15 in all- in a game that wasn’t decided until Duke missed two potential game-winning 3s in the final four seconds.
Of course, if you don’t have a rooting interest, you’re probably not reading this.
Miami came into Cameron 4-0 in the ACC, riding an eight-game winning streak. But there was some skepticism as to the validity of that record.
Not anymore. Miami attacked Duke off the dribble time and time again. It wasn’t always successful. After all, they only made 46 percent of their shots from the field and only 4-16 from beyond the arc. But on the other end of the floor their trapping defense forced Duke into 17 turnovers and they scored the same number of points off those turnovers.
“Unforced errors and lazy passes,” Wendell Moore summed up and it’s hard to argue. But Miami played a role in those turnovers. They had 15 steals, after all.
Duke was only able to force five turnovers and scored only two points off them, a late layup by Paolo Banchero that put Duke up 74-71, with 45 seconds left.
But Duke didn’t score after that, while Miami used a four-point possession to swing the game.
The first half was a half of runs. Miami went on a 8-0 run to take a 14-6 lead. Duke answered with a 13-0 run and took an eight-point lead of its own, at 26-18. But Miami scored the next 10 points, then Duke six then Miami the final four and we went into intermission tied at 32-32.
Thirty-two points for Duke’s explosive offense? At home?
You don’t have to be a forensic scientist to figure out the reason. The Blue Devils had a jaw-dropping 13 first-half turnovers, four by star wing Moore and three by Jeremy Roach.
Duke’s best chance to put some real distance between them and the visitors probably came after A.J. Griffin’s 3-pointer put Duke up 26-18, with seven minutes left in the first half. But Duke turned it over on three of their next five possessions and Miami got back in the game.
Mike Krzyzewski cited this as a key segment.
“We were playing well and we came down and turned the ball over. We were not real smart during that time. Even at the end of the half, we were up 32-28 and gave up four points. There were segments like that.”
Neither team led by more than six points in the second half. Duke led 48-43, 50-45 and 52-47 but could never deliver the knock-out blow. Miami took over and led 60-54 and 63-57.
Duke fought back and appeared to be on the verge of taking control.
“I didn’t know if we were fresh enough to come back and that’s when I thought we played our best,” Krzyzewski said,
Up 74-71 the Blue Devils needed one big stop to take control.
Instead they got a disaster. Charlie Moore—Krzyzewski called him “the key to the game in how he handled the team”- got inside off the dribble, scored and drew a foul on Jeremy Roach.
“Our thing is no 3s, no fouls in that situation,” Krzyzewski said. “And we fouled. We were too spread out. We wanted to be more condensed.”
Moore missed the freebie but Jordan Miller dug out the offensive rebound and got the ball to Kameron McGusty, who put Miami up with another of a seemingly endless succession of contested shots in the paint.
Keels missed a tough layup in traffic, Miami made one of two foul shots and Duke hustled down the court, with one final chance.
Moore had a good look at a 3.
“Pushing the ball, you want to get to the rack,” he said “But I saw that they had all five guys clogging the lane. So, I felt like I had an open 3. I thought it was a good shot. I thought it was going in. To me, it was on target. I guess it was just a little long.”
Duke got the ball out of bounds but with less than a second left. Trevor Keels did get off a desperation 3 that had little chance.
Duke’s Moore took the loss especially hard.
“It all starts with me. Tonight I didn’t lead the guys the way I was supposed to. Up three with 30 seconds left, I can’t let us lose that game.”
Banchero led Duke with 20 points and added 7 rebounds. Moore had 12 points, 12 rebounds and 7 assists but turned it over 6 times and missed all 4 of his 3-pointers. Mark Williams had 12 points, 7 rebounds and 6 blocks.
But Charlie Moore was the best Moore on the court. The three-time transfer had 18 points, 7 steals and only one turnover.
Duke’s inability to force turnovers was as important as Miami’s success in forcing turnovers.
“They were just taking care of the ball,” Moore said, “running their offense. Our pressure defense didn’t bother the team. They’re an older team and every team isn’t going to turn the ball over 15 or 20 times and make it easy for us. We’re going to have dogfights all year long.”
The loss drops Duke to 2-1 in the ACC, 12-2 overall. Miami is 5-0 and 13-3.
“It shows the rust that we have,” Krzyzewski said adding “we’re a young team and we’ve got to grow old.”
- ‘It’s a lesson for us’: No. 2 Duke looks inward after shocking loss to Miami
- ROCKED LIKE A HURRICANE: Duke men’s basketball falls to Miami for first ACC loss
- Duke basketball falls to Miami in down-to-the-wire game. Blue Devils now 2-1 in ACC
- Duke’s Coach K on the loss to Miami
- After losing to Miami, Duke faces another tough test in Wake Forest
- Miami Hurricanes shock No. 2 Duke 76-74 on the road, extend win streak to nine
- Duke basketball falls to Miami in down-to-the-wire game. Blue Devils now 2-1 in ACC
- Miami knocks off No. 2 Duke to conclude wild day of upsets in college basketball
- Coach K’s farewell tour: Duke takes first home loss of Mike Krzyzewski’s final season vs. Miami
- Miami’s Kam McGusty has mic-drop moment after game-winner upsets Duke
- Miami basketball biggest win since 1999 shocking Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium
- BOX SCORE
- POSTGAME NOTES (PDF)
- COACH K QUOTES (PDF)
- DUKE PLAYER QUOTES (PDF)
- OPPONENT QUOTES (PDF)
- PHOTO GALLERY
Poll
Player Of The Game vs. Miami
This poll is closed
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1%
Wendell Moore
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50%
Paolo Banchero
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29%
Mark Williams
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2%
Jeremy Roach
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1%
‘Trevor Keels
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8%
AJ Griffin
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3%
Joey Baker
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3%
Theo John
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