GREENSBORO -- Duke freshman Andre Dawkins grew irritated with himself for not taking better advantage of his opportunities during the Blue Devils' first two ACC tournament games.
So when another one arose during Sunday's 65-61 ACC championship win over Georgia Tech, the young guard made sure not to make that mistake again.
With starter Nolan Smith on the bench in foul trouble, Dawkins scored seven straight points for the Blue Devils - on a 3-pointer, a jumper and a driving dunk - to give his team a 26-15 lead with 3:55 left in the first half.
It marked his best scoring tally since December.
"Seeing my boy do that was big time," Duke senior forward Lance Thomas said. "Stepping up when we needed it - Nolan was in foul trouble, Coach called his number, and he was ready. The stereotype of a freshman coming into a big game, especially like that, is 'they're going to be scared, they're going to be timid.'
"[But he made a] big 3 - a nasty dunk ... that's big."
And Dawkins came up big in more ways than one. He graduated from high school a year early in order to play for Duke a year early and has had a roller-coaster year on and off the court. He scored in double figures six times in the first two months of the season before his sister died in a car accident in early December.
By January, his defensive shortcomings started limiting his playing time, and his output. But his performance on Sunday was a good sign that he - and coach Mike Krzyzewski - believe he can contribute during the NCAA tournament.
Dawkins showed that he can do more offensively than make 3-pointers.
"When he attacked that rim, I just jumped off my seat - I almost sprained my ankle," Smith said, grinning.
But Krzyzewski - who said he usually might have brought Smith back into the game with two fouls - left the freshman in because, "Andre was doing a good job and contributing greatly."
The key now, Dawkins knows, is to continue to do the same thing: Take advantage of those opportunities.
"I told him not to be satisfied with one good performance," Thomas said.
Slow down on 96: Krzyzewski, who had supported the idea of expanding the NCAA tournament to 96 teams, sounded more cautious about the idea Sunday. Duke's Hall of Fame coach said that the NCAA had to be careful about overexpanding because it might affect the league tournaments negatively.
"I don't see how, if it's expanded too much, you can have them," he said of the conference tournaments. "I'd like to see you crawl with it [expansion] if you do it. I'd rather crawl with it, but you've got to be careful, because the tournaments are exciting."
