Nothing seemed to fall for the Blue Devils in the game's first five minutes, but once the ball went through the net for the first time, they were off to the races.
Brandon Ingram and Grayson Allen combined for 34 points and No. 15 Duke turned 14 Florida State turnovers into 16 points, coasting to a 80-65 win Thursday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Blue Devils got a boost off the bench from freshman Chase Jeter and passed out 16 assists, handing the Seminoles a fifth straight loss in the process.
Five Blue Devils finished in double-figures, with center Marshall Plumlee recording 13 points and 10 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season.
Forced to play a 2-3 zone due to injuries and inexperience, Florida State suffered the consequences, as Duke drove the ball through the lane and whipped the ball around the perimeter to set up open looks, often from the corner.
"I think we were able to move the ball around good against [the zone], and we found the open guy," said Allen, who had five of the Blue Devil assists to go with his game-high 18 points.
In his return to the Duke lineup, junior Matt Jones scored 11 points and hit three of the team's nine 3-pointers, just eight days removed from spraining his ankle in the first half against North Carolina. Freshman point guard Derryck Thornton—who fell awkwardly on his right shoulder in the second half of Saturday's loss at Louisville—fouled out near the end of the game after trying to slow down Florida State's Xavier Rathan-Mayes, but finished with seven points and held the sophomore without a made field goal in the first half.
After the Blue Devils (21-7, 10-5 in the ACC) missed their first nine shots from the field, Allen scored eight straight points to get Duke back on track. Consecutive 3-pointers from Jones and Ingram coming out of the under-12 media timeout forced Florida State head coach Leonard Hamilton to stop the action yet again, trying to ward off an extended Blue Devil spurt.
Instead, Duke scored on five of its next seven possessions to open up a 29-20 lead by the next break in the action and never looked back. The Blue Devils shot just 39.0 percent in the first half but hit seven 3-pointers to head into the locker room ahead 43-30.
"It was a great all-around game for our team. We started the game a little slow, but we picked it up," freshman Luke Kennard said. "Building that lead in the first half...allowed us to control ourselves, calm down and play great team basketball."
The surprise key to the mid-half spurt was the strong interior play of Jeter, who snagged five rebounds in the first half. During his first sequence on the floor, Jeter grabbed a defensive rebound, drew a charge on the next possession, then was rewarded with a dump-off pass from Ingram for an emphatic dunk. Later in the half, the Las Vegas native stuffed Florida State freshman Malik Beasley as the Seminole tried to throw down a reverse dunk, though Jeter's hand appeared to make plenty of contact with the net on the play, which should have been ruled a goaltending violation.
After posting five points in the loss at Louisville Saturday, Jeter again delivered quality minutes against Florida State (16-12, 6-10), earning chants from the crowd and a strong chest-bump from Plumlee as he left the floor. For a Duke team that played without senior Amile Jefferson for the 19th time Thursday, more contributions from the freshman could become crucial, and could allow Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski to get other players a bit more rest.
"With Matt going down against North Carolina and Amile being out for so long, it’s been pretty much a next-man-up mentality," Jeter said. "Guys being ready to come off the bench and bring energy, that’s a big thing for us."
Duke had plenty of chances to put the Seminoles away early in the second half, but could never quite put the nail in the coffin. But that changed with 9:49 left, when Plumlee tapped out a missed free throw by Ingram. The ball sailed right to Jones, who knocked in a 3-pointer from the left wing to push the lead to 64-50.
The Blue Devils forced a bad pass on the next Florida State possession, then whipped the ball inside to Plumlee for a dunk in traffic. The Warsaw, Ind., native then secured the rebound on the other end and held on through contact, making one of two free throws to give Duke its largest lead of the game at 17.
"He’s in great shape, and for the last month especially he’s been damn good—he’s been so good, and he’s been a vocal leader," Krzyzewski said. "With Amile out, for him to step up, big-time. [His production has] really been maybe the biggest key for us."
After Florida State stopped the bleeding momentarily with a basket, Jeter drew another charge and Allen beat the shot clock with a 3-pointer from the top of the key.
Krzyzewski knew the Blue Devils were tired, likening Thursday's game to a 15-round fight. But that did not stop the Blue Devils from diving for loose ball after loose ball, even with the outcome all but determined.
Jones leaped to the floor with 2:06 left to secure a bouncing ball and called timeout to secure Duke an extra possession, and Allen dove to the floor on the other end soon afterward. In his first game back, Jones played 34 minutes—Allen and Ingram played the entire game.
"They’re giving me everything, diving for loose balls...[they are] such a good group," Krzyzewski said. "We won enough rounds to win the fight, but we just had to be careful not to get knocked out. That’s a game where we could’ve been knocked out. But our guys responded."
The Seminoles made one last push, with Rathan-Mayes scoring seven straight points and Jarquez Smith adding a lay-up, but Duke—which got into the bonus with more than nine minutes remaining—was able to draw contact and close out the game from the charity stripe.
The Blue Devils will travel to Pittsburgh Sunday at 2 p.m. for their last road game of the season.
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