GREENSBORO, N.C. — It was a wild afternoon in Greensboro. Tempers were flying, jackets were thrown, and Miami seemingly had a perfect storm in place to upset the top-seeded Blue Devils.
Fortunately for Duke (28-5), Kyle Singler would have none of that. The first-team All-ACC selection continued his late-season surge, powering the Blue Devils past the No. 12 Hurricanes (20-13) in the ACC Tournament semifinals, 77-74, with a monster performance.
Duke will play No. 7 Georgia Tech (22-11) in the tournament final tomorrow at 1 p.m. in Greensboro Coliseum.
“Kyle was awesome,” senior Jon Scheyer said. “He had some huge plays offensively and defensively, on the boards. I can’t say enough about him. He was great… big-time player, love playing with him, and he really started us off right in the second half.”
Duke trailed 35-32 at halftime after a 17-2 Miami run to close the first, but Singler came out firing after the break. He connected on his first two 3-pointers, earning a raucous ovation from the Blue Devil faithful and prompting Hurricane head coach Frank Haith to call timeout.
The junior wasn’t done yet. He nailed a jumper in the paint after the timeout, sparking a 24-7 run in which he accounted for 16 of Duke’s points either by scoring or assisting. Singler finished with 27 points—just three shy of his career high—on 8-of-15 shooting along with eight rebounds and six assists.
It was the second straight day Singler directed a second-half comeback, after leading the Blue Devils from behind against Virginia in the quarterfinals Thursday.
“Kyle’s a warrior, he’s an animal,” senior Lance Thomas said. “He’s not scared to take big shots. The last two games we’ve played, he’s been taking us out of bad situations as far as us not being able to score or us being down. That doesn’t affect the way he plays and we get energized by that.”
There was already plenty of buzz in the Greensboro Coliseum after a fiery first half. Duke was held to just two points in the final five minutes as Miami took control of the game, and a series of questionable calls left head coach Mike Krzyzewski fuming on the bench.
The tension came to a boil with just over two minutes to play in the period, when Krzyzewski was whistled for a technical foul, prompting him to throw off his jacket and proceed to coach the rest of the game while kneeling on the floor.
“I was surprised, but Coach coaches with feeling and emotion,” Singler said. “He’s not going to hold back. I guess he might have said something that he shouldn’t have—I don’t know what he said—but for us, just to see that Coach has our back is something good to see.”
Krzyzewski’s outburst may have caught the referees’ attention. After 14 trips to the line in the first, the Hurricanes only took seven free throws in the closing period.
Scheyer alone went to line six times in the second half and scored 13 points in the period to finish with 16. Junior Nolan Smith chipped in 12 for the game.
The Plumlee brothers also made their presence felt in the frontcourt. The pair combined for three alley-oop dunks, including one fast break in which Mason Plumlee drove the ball downcourt and found his brother for the flush.
But the game belonged to Singler, whose inspired effort propelled the Blue Devils into the final day for the second straight season.
“He has been really big for us in the clutch,” Thomas said. “He just energizes our team when he does that. He plays real cocky and he gives us the cockiness that we need on the court.”
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