CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — Although its win Sunday was not quite as thrilling as its 78-73 comeback victory Thursday against N.C. State, Duke again overcame a sluggish start to trounce Boston College 75-50 at the Conte Forum.
Defense and rebounding proved critical as the No. 5 Blue Devils (23-4, 10-2 in the ACC) held the Eagles (8-19, 3-10) to a 34.1-percent shooting performance and racked up a 45-21 rebounding margin.
“I think we’ve been winning in different ways, but the big thing is that our defense has really improved,” junior forward Ryan Kelly said. “We’re doing a good job of taking teams off the three and protecting the basket better…. Individually, guys are stepping up and making it harder for their man to score. And when all five guys on the floor do that it makes it tough on the offense.”
Boston College made its first five shots, including three wide-open 3-pointers, from the field en route to an early 13-7 lead. The open shots prompted head coach Mike Krzyzewski to change his team’s ball-screen defensive strategy.
It worked—for the next 14:26, the Eagles would shoot 0-for-13 from the field, not scoring a point for over nine minutes of that stretch
When that drought ended with 2:24 in the half, though, the Blue Devil lead was still just six points, partially as a result of eleven Duke turnovers in the first period. Although the sloppy play continued into the second half, Boston College could not capitalize, with just 16 points off of the Blue Devils’ 18 turnovers.
A Miles Plumlee put-back gave the Blue Devils a 30-21 advantage heading into halftime. In the second half, though, a 6-for-11 performance from beyond the arc widened the gap to as much as 28.
Seth Curry and Austin Rivers led the scoring for the Blue Devils, netting 18 and 16 points, respectively. Miles Plumlee added 10 boards, though foul trouble limited his younger brother to just 17 minutes of action.
Boston College played without one of its better players, freshman Patrick Heckmann, who has been battling various injuries throughout the season. The Eagles used the rest of the 15 players on the roster in the game, but their bench contributed just six points. In comparison, the Duke bench totaled 27 points, highlighted by Andre Dawkins’ 15 on 5-for-11 shooting.
The win helped the Blue Devils maintain their place in the three-way tie atop the ACC with Florida State and North Carolina, both of whom won Saturday.
“At this time of the year a lot of strange things happen in college basketball,” Krzyzewski said. “Nobody is going to give up, and if you overlook anyone, there is a good chance you’re going to get beat. We didn’t overlook Boston College and we came away with a really good win.”
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