Duke shoots its way to easy ACC tournament win over Boston College
Less than dominant play in the regulars season left Duke in its first-ever Tuesday game at the ACC tournament.
The Blue Devils against Boston College, however, looked like their usually dominant selves in advancing.
Saddled with its worst seed in ACC tournament history, No. 10 Duke drilled a season-high 15 3-pointers to pound the last-place Eagles, 86-51, in an ACC tournament first-round game at the Greensboro Coliseum.
The Blue Devils (12-11) advance to Wednesday’s second round to play No. 7 seed Louisville at 6:30 p.m. The Cardinals (13-6) beat Duke twice in the regular season, including an 80-73 overtime win at Durham on Feb. 27.
That loss began a three-game losing streak that greatly diminished any hopes the Blue Devils had to earn an NCAA tournament at-large bid. Instead, Duke needs a winning streak in Greensboro -- perhaps all the way to winning Saturday night’s ACC title game -- to continue its streak of not missing an NCAA tournament since 1995.
Duke played Tuesday like it plans to stick around for a while.
After hitting just 16 of 74 3-pointers (21.6%) the regular-season ending streak of losses to Louisville, Georgia Tech and North Carolina, the Blue Devils sank 15 of 32 (46.9%) to manhandle Boston College (4-16).
Freshman guard DJ Steward scored 17 points to lead Duke, hitting 3 of 8 3-pointers along the way. Freshman center Mark Williams added 13 points on the interior, while senior guard Jordan Goldwire sank four 3-pointers to score 12 points.
Duke never trailed, led 41-27 at halftime and shot 51.6% in the second half to turn the game into a rout.
Six different Duke players made 3-pointers and all of them hit at least two.
Here are updates from earlier in the game:
Second half update
With 3-pointers continuing to fall like they haven’t in recent games for Duke, the Blue Devils are rolling toward an ACC tournament first-round win and a matchup with Louisville in Wednesday’s second round.
The Blue Devils buried the Eagles with 13 of 29 shooting on 3-pointers over the game’s first 32 minutes to take a commanding 70-40 lead with 6:51 to play.
The outburst came after the Blue Devils combined to make only 16 3-pointers during their final three regular-season games, all losses.
Six different Duke players made 3-pointers, with senior guard Jordan Goldwire (four) and freshman guard DJ Steward (three) leading the way.
Halftime update
Behind 13 points from DJ Steward and 11 from Mark Williams, Duke took a 41-27 halftime lead over Boston College.
The Blue Devils hit 53.3% of their first-half shots, including 8 of 17 3-pointers. During the three-game losing streak Duke carried into this game, they never made more than seven 3-pointers in any of the losses.
Boston College struggled to 41.7% shooting, including 1 of 9 3-pointers.
Duke never trailed in the first half and led by as many as 15 points.
After Boston College pulled to within three points at 13-10, Duke pushed its lead into double-figures with a 10-2 run. Three-pointers from Jordan Goldwire and Steward book ended baskets by Joey Baker and Williams to give Duke a 23-12 lead.
The Eagles never drew closer than nine points the rest of the first half.
First half update
Duke brought its shooting touch early in its ACC tournament opener against Boston College. The Blue Devils hit 6 of their first 10 3-pointers, including DJ Steward’s 3 of 4 shooting, to open a 26-14 lead with 7:58 to play until halftime.
Duke has already made more 3-pointers than they did in Saturday night’s 91-73 loss at North Carolina.
Boston College, meanwhile, missed its first six 3-pointers.
Pregame update
With former Duke player and assistant coach Jeff Capel having already been sent home from the ACC tournament the Blue Devils are preparing for their ACC tournament game with Boston College.
Capel’s Pitt Panthers, seeded No. 12, lost 79-73 to No 13 seed Miami. Miami advances to play No. 5 seed Clemson Wednesday.
Against Boston College, Duke is starting Matthew Hurt, Wendell Moore, Jeremy Roach, DJ Steward and Mark Williams.
This story was originally published March 9, 2021 at 4:45 PM.