Duke's offense has continued clicking in its ACC home opener after a 10-day holiday break, but its stifling defense from last week against Evansville has not been as effective against tougher competition through a half of play.
The Blue Devils trail 49-45 at halftime against Florida State at Cameron Indoor Stadium Saturday afternoon, with both teams shooting better than 48 percent from the field. Grayson Allen has been lights out from the midrange area and leads Duke with 12 points, and big men Marvin Bagley III and Wendell Carter Jr. have also been hard for the Seminoles to handle on the inside.
The teams went back and forth in the opening minutes, but the Blue Devils earned the first two-possession lead of the afternoon when Bagley cleaned up a Javin DeLaurier miss with a putback dunk and Gary Trent Jr. knocked down a pair at the line as part of a 14-5 run.
But Florida State has stayed in the game thanks to an efficient perimeter offense that has knocked down seven 3-pointers. Duke's big men have been slow to contest 6-foot-8 Seminole senior on the 3-point line, and he leads all scorers with 22 points on 9-of-10 shooting.
Florida State scored six straight points to trim a seven-point Blue Devil advantage to one with less than eight minutes left during a fast-paced flurry of action, though freshman point guard kept Duke in front with a driving layup to stop the run.
Cofer eventually tied the score with a 3-pointer in the final five minutes, but when the Seminoles had a chance to take the lead, Carter swatted away an attempt down the floor into the hands of Trent, who finished the transition opportunity with a 3-point play.
Florida State battled back to finally pull in front in the final minute, though, when Cofer banked in a triple from the wing.
Here are a few observations from the first half:
- Trevon Duval picked up two fouls in the first three minutes, shifting Allen to point guard for a few minutes with a three-big lineup on the floor before backup point guard Jordan Goldwire entered the game with about 14 minutes left in the half.
- Bagley picked up his second foul in the final minute after his first whistle was for a flagrant foul when he elbowed a Seminole while going up for a rebound.
- Duke spent much of the half in a 2-3 zone defensively, the first time it has played zone extensively in more than a month.
- The Blue Devils have shut down Terance Mann, Florida State's leading scorer—holding him scoreless—Mann is more of a slasher than a shooter and has not found any room to score in the paint against Duke's skilled frontcourt.
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