TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—This was nothing like the Notre Dame game.
Coming off a 30-point rout of the then-No. 10 Fighting Irish, No. 4 Duke—buoyed by standout performances from senior Quinn Cook and freshman Tyus Jones—staved off Florida State 73-70 at the Donald L. Tucker Center Monday night.
"Every game in the ACC is tough...and we didn't come out as hungry as we should have tonight," junior captain Amile Jefferson said. "It was a game of runs. We made big plays down the stretch and were smart at the end of the game with fouling and controlling the clock. We got key rebounds, Quinn hit big free throws and that's how we won this game."
The Seminoles (13-12, 5-7 in the ACC) made a furious comeback with two minutes remaining in the second half. After trailing by 10 with 4:19 remaining, a late steal and pair of free throws from Devon Bookert cut the lead to four with 2:11 left. Then, after a Duke shot clock violation, Xavier Rathan-Mayes converted on a layup with 11.9 seconds remaining to make it a one-point ball game.
Three free throws from Cook and one from Bookert pushed the Duke lead to 73-70, but Bookert could not convert from the line with 1.8 seconds remaining, giving the Blue Devils (21-3, 8-3) the win.
Lost among the back-and-forth scoring was what Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski called the "play of the game" in the locker room following the contest. Sophomore Matt Jones—who finished with no points on 0-of-5 shooting after a 17-point outburst against Notre Dame—stepped up and took a charge on a driving Montay Brandon with 1:37 left to give Duke back the ball, leading to a jumper from Tyus Jones.
"We just had to try to stand up. It was kind of an up-and-down game," Tyus Jones said. "It's all about being together and having your brother's back. Like Coach said, we came down, missed a shot up three and they get a leak out. And Matt comes up with a charge. It's stuff like that, just having your brother's back and being ready to step up and make a play regardless of what's going on."
Although the game had an exciting finish, early on in the second half, it looked like it would be far from a thriller.
After a quiet first half from Jahlil Okafor due to foul trouble—the Chicago native had two points, three rebounds and two fouls in eight minutes of play before the break—the 6-foot-11 freshman came out firing in the second half. Okafor poured in eight points in the opening four minutes.
The Duke center spent all night battling Florida State's rotation of 7-footers, with junior Michael Ojo playing the majority of the minutes in the paint against Okafor.
"I've noticed the ACC play is a lot more physical," Okafor said. "The first half I gave myself trouble by having to sit on the bench by getting in foul trouble. And then the second half, my teammates got me a bunch of easy baskets. But [Ojo's] a big dude."
Even with Okafor's efficient second-half effort, it was the Blue Devil backcourt that owned the game for Duke.
Cook led all scorers with 26 points and kept the Blue Devils in the game throughout the first half, converting a pair of fast-break layups to knot the score at 8-all and finishing the first 20 minutes with 13 points. Aside from Cook, no other Blue Devils were able to convert consistently on the offensive end in the first half.
Tyus Jones finished the first half with nine points and five assists, and flirted with a triple-double for much of the second half. The freshman's stat-stuffing night came to a close with the Apple Valley, Minn., native stuck with six rebounds to complement his 16 points and career-high 12 assists.
"Twelve assists and one turnover. He's had a great month," Krzyzewski said. "He's had a terrific year, but he's had a great month. Those two guards have been rock solid for me."
A dunk by Okafor put Duke ahead 42-29 with 16:10 remaining in the game and it seemed like the Blue Devils would be able to dominate inside and rely on Cook and Jones to lead them to an easy victory.
But the Seminoles had other plans.
Florida State closed the gap to 55-50 with 7:58 remaining thanks in large part to a pair of 3-pointers from Robbie Berwick. The Blue Devils needed an answer, and the answer came in the form of the corner 3-pointer.
With 7:25 remaining, Duke knocked down three corner treys on its next four possessions, with Jones, freshman Justise Winslow and Cook all getting in on the action. The senior's triple pushed the lead back to 10 for the Blue Devils.
"We had two or three exchanges where we got some amazing offensive rebounds and just mucked out some plays and kicked it out for some threes and couldn't hit them," Krzyzewski said. "They almost knocked us out. Berwick's two threes were huge.... My guys are tough and responded with a couple buckets and took control of the game."
The game was everything but perfect for Duke, but marks its fourth straight victory and moves the Blue Devils into a tie with North Carolina for third in the ACC, just half a game back of second-place Notre Dame.
Duke will take on Syracuse at the Carrier Dome Feb. 14.
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