Beyond the arc: Duke men's basketball vs. Boston College

Interim head coach Jeff Capel coached the Blue Devils to a 93-82 win against Boston College in the first game of Mike Krzyzewski's absence due to lower-back surgery, but the victory may have come at a cost. Graduate student Amile Jefferson suffered a foot injury in the first half and did not return, and Duke had to stave off a rally by the Eagles in the closing minutes.

Revisiting the three keys to the game:

• Close out on shooters: The Blue Devils' held Boston College's potent perimeter scorers to just 3-of-14 shooting from deep, the fewest 3-pointers the Eagles have made in a game all season. Duke has allowed opponents to shoot just 28.8 percent from 3-point range this season, the second-best mark in the ACC.
• Continue unselfish play: Grayson Allen topped his career high with nine assists in the first half alone, as the Blue Devils assisted on 15 of their 19 made shots before the break. Duke's offense became stagnant at times in the second half, though, only dishing out five helpers in the final 20 minutes.
• Force turnovers and push the tempo: The Blue Devils' pressure man-to-man defense worked to perfection in the first half, turning a whopping 17 Boston College turnovers into 21 points in a fast-paced game as their lead ballooned to 25 at its peak. But again, the second half was a different story. The Eagles only coughed the ball up four more times and attacked the paint for easy layups to keep Duke from getting out in transition as much.

Three key stats:

• Allen has a double-double with 12 points and 11 assists: The junior guard has slid into the point guard role for the last two contests since returning from a one-game suspension, and he has clearly made a concerted effort to be more of a distributor than a scorer with 18 assists in the two games combined. Allen also had five turnovers, though, sometimes trying to be a little too unselfish and forcing difficult passes to teammates.
• Boston College outrebounds Duke 36-27: Jefferson's early injury left a large void on the boards for the Blue Devils, and nobody stepped up to replace the captain's production. Freshman big man Marques Bolden did not have a rebound in seven minutes, and Harry Giles only managed five boards after grabbing 12 Wednesday against Georgia Tech.
• The Eagles shoot 55.9 percent from the field in the second half: Boston College, who entered the game as a 26-point underdog, improbably narrowed a 25-point first-half deficit to six late in the game. Duke allowed allowed several easy layups and lobs on backdoor cuts by the Eagles and struggled with transition defense in the second half, resulting in a lot of high-percentage shots for Boston College.

Three key plays:

• 7:34 remaining, first half: Jefferson got the ball in the post and missed a contested layup off the glass before falling to the ground in pain with a right foot injury. The Philadelphia native—who suffered a season-ending fractured right foot in December 2015—did not return to the game and was limping noticeably after he emerged from the locker room in the middle of the second half. Capel said in his postgame press conference that the extent of the injury is unclear, and Jefferson will undergo further tests in the coming days.
• 2:08 remaining, first half: Freshman Frank Jackson jumped in front of pass from Ky Bowman for the Blue Devils' 10th steal of the first half and took it the other way for a breakaway layup to push Duke's lead to 53-28 before the Eagles scored the last six points of the half.
• 1:59 remaining, second half: After Boston College trimmed the deficit to seven, freshman Jayson Tatum spotted up on the wing and drilled a 3-pointer off an assist from Matt Jones to kill the Eagles' momentum and put the Blue Devils back in front by double digits.

And the Duke game ball goes to.... Jayson Tatum