Senior Night 2013 was a success in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Seth Curry, Mason Plumlee, and Ryan Kelly ignited a potent Duke offense to help the Blue Devils defeat the Hokies 85-57. With tonight's win, Duke finishes the season with an undefeated home record.
Here's your postgame recap:
Revisiting the three keys to the game:
- Can the Hokies find a way to stop the three?: The Hokies could not stop the three, although they did a better job tonight than in the previous matchup. Duke shot 52.2 percent from beyond the arc, despite Ryan Kelly's sub-par 2-for-7 performance. Seth Curry and Quinn Cook led the way for Duke, combining to shoot 7-of-12.
- Will Duke repeat its performance on the boards?: The Blue Devils again won the battle on the boards, but not by as wide a margin as they did in the teams' first meeting. Duke out-rebounded the Hokies 36-29 on the night, led by Ryan Kelly's nine boards.
- Good senior speeches: See the print edition of The Chronicle tomorrow for more on what Mason Plumlee, Seth Curry and Ryan Kelly said to the Crazies after their final game at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Three key plays:
- 5:23, first half. With Duke leading 27-26, Joey Van Zegeren followed a Jarell Eddie miss with a putback at the rim to lift the Hokies back on top. Adding insult to injury, Plumlee fouled Van Zegeren—his second personal—though Van Zegeren missed the free throw. Instead of letting their play slip with Plumlee on the bench, the Blue Devils rattled off a 9-0 run.
- 15:49, second half. Duke was clinging to a six-point lead when Seth Curry took the offense into his own hands. Curry knocked down three-pointers on consecutive possessions to give the Blue Devils some breathing room early in the second half.
- 4:22, second half. Seth Curry attempted to set an away-from-the-ball screen and immediately crumpled to the ground holding his right shin. Curry did not return to the game, although that may be in part due to the sizable Duke lead.
Three key stats:
- Five assists each for Ryan Kelly and Mason Plumlee. Duke's two big men shined not only scoring the basketball, but also finding their teammates. To underline just how proficient the bigs were distributing the ball, Duke's three ball-handlers, Quinn Cook, Seth Curry and Tyler Thornton, combined for five total assists.
- Duke committed four total turnovers. The Blue Devils took impeccable care of the basketball all night. The team only committed four turnovers tonight, compared to the 10 coughed up by the Hokies.
- The Blue Devils ended the game on a 20-2 run. The final score doesn't tell the whole story of the game. Yet again Duke was sluggish at the beginning of the game, and again fought back to handily win. Even though the Blue Devils were on pace to win without the run, ending the game on that note is surely a confidence booster heading into a tough game against North Carolina.
And the Duke game ball goes to … Seth Curry: Curry was dominant from beyond the arc tonight, drilling 5-of-9 triples on his way to a 20-point performance. Curry also added five rebounds despite leaving the game a little early due to what looked like a shin injury.
And the Virginia Tech game ball goes to … Erick Green: This was an easy choice. Green poured in 25 points on 10-of-19 shooting. Green was the ACC's most prolific scorer all season and continued to do just that tonight. He added four rebounds and two assists on the night.
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