As strong as Duke looked in its first true road win of the season against Clemson Saturday, the Blue Devils seemed even more comfortable back on the hardwood of Coach K Court against Florida State, beating back multiple Seminole surges and never allowing them to establish an offensive rhythm.
No. 8 Duke (17-3, 5-2 in the ACC) withstood a 12-0 run by Florida State midway through the second half and eventually pulled away to defeat the Seminoles 70-56 Wednesday night in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
“I thought we showed great resolve tonight,” head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “Florida State’s really good.... They’re huge and wide and they can move their feet, so the court is small in the halfcourt.”
The Seminoles (15-5, 3-3) were quick to take advantage of their big bodies in the early stages of the game. Sophomore Solomon Alabi, standing 7-foot-1, opened the scoring with a two-handed slam and posted six of Florida State’s first nine points of the game, with the other two baskets coming on short jumpers in the paint.
But Florida State never led again after notching the first basket of the contest, and even though the Seminoles shot 52 percent from the field in the first half, turnovers prevented them from keeping pace with Duke.
After a layup by Xavier Gibson cut the Blue Devils’ lead to 28-26, Duke responded by outscoring Florida State 11-3 to end the half. Four consecutive Seminole giveaways facilitated the run, and the Blue Devils capitalized on these mistakes as both Jon Scheyer and Kyle Singler knocked down 3-pointers during the spurt.
Florida State head coach Leonard Hamilton said his team was fortunate to be down by only 10 points at halftime after turning the ball over 14 times in the opening period. He added that impatience on the offensive end derailed the Seminoles’ game plan of using ball reversals to find openings in the lane.
“[We were] being extremely anxious. We had three post-up fouls, two or three walking violations and a moving violation,” Hamilton said. “We dribbled the ball to the baseline and picked our dribble up with nowhere to go. You’re not going to go on the road and beat a well-coached, well-disciplined team like Duke unless you play the game that gives you the best chance to win.”
Singler came out red-hot at the beginning of the second half and scored nine of Duke’s first 12 points. He knocked down one 3-pointer, two jumpers and 2-of-3 free throws after he drew contact behind the arc and prompted an eye roll from Luke Loucks, the Seminole offender.
The junior’s outburst extended the Blue Devils’ lead to 51-35, but Florida State refused to roll over and let Duke pull away for good with 13:55 still remaining in the game.
Freshman Michael Snaer, a five-star recruit, came off the bench and gave the Seminoles instant offense. The rookie completed a 3-point play the old-fashioned way and then went on to score six more points over the next four-and-a-half minutes. When the dust cleared, Snaer had accounted for nine points during a 12-0 Florida State run that cut Duke’s advantage to four points with 8:56 left in the game.
Sensing that the Seminoles were preparing to pull away, Krzyzewski got out of his seat and implored the Cameron Crazies to pick up their intensity, yelling, “Let’s go students!” from across the court. And the fans weren’t the only ones to respond—the Blue Devils outscored Florida State 19-9 the rest of the way.
Singler picked up his fourth foul after Florida State’s run, but with the game in the balance, Krzyzewski took the risk of leaving the preseason All-American in the game.
“I had confidence in him not fouling and I also felt that the game was going to be won from the eight-minute mark to the four-minute mark,” Krzyzewski said.
The decision to keep Singler on the court paid dividends. Scheyer, who scored a game-high 22 points, slashed through the lane from the right corner and found Singler open behind the arc on the left wing. The forward nailed the clutch 3-pointer, giving Duke an 11-point lead with 5:45 remaining that effectively squashed any hope of a Seminole comeback.
The Blue Devils were able to shut the door for good in part because they shut down Alabi, frustrating him with more physical defensive play under the basket.
The big man was only 2-of-8 from the field in the second half after making all four of his field goal attempts in the first.
With Florida State’s most consistent offensive threat neutralized, the Seminoles were no match for Duke’s experience in the closing stages of the game. Scheyer navigated the last-ditch halfcourt press with poise, and Florida State was reduced to taking desperation 3-pointers with the game already out of hand.
“They’re playing well together with a level of maturity that we have not grown to yet,” Hamilton said of the Blue Devils. “They deserved to win the game. We got beat by a team that did all the little things a lot better than we did tonight.”
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