Trevor Keels leads the way as Duke basketball beats Clemson for ACC road win, 82-64
Trevor Keels is still out of No. 7 Duke’s starting lineup following his leg injury, but the freshman guard is back contributing to the Blue Devils in important ways.
Keels scored 25 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, scoring eight consecutive Duke points during a stretch of the second half when the Blue Devils pulled away for a 82-64 ACC basketball win over Clemson on Thursday night at Littlejohn Coliseum.
On the strength of the 23 points Keels scored on 8-of-9 shooting in the second half, the Blue Devils (20-4, 10-3 ACC) moved back into a tie with Notre Dame (17-7, 10-3 ACC) for first place in the ACC standings.
“Trevor took over in the second half,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said.
The 6-5, 221-pound Keels missed three games after suffering a calf injury in his right leg during the second half of Duke’s 79-78 overtime loss at Florida State on Jan. 18. He missed Duke’s next three games and has come off the bench in all four games since he’s returned.
Even as a reserve, he’s playing strong for Duke. Keels hit 9 of 13 shots from the field, including 3 of 6 on 3-pointers. He played 30 minutes without committing a turnover.
Duke junior Wendell Moore, a team captain, scored eight points and led Duke with eight assists. But his biggest contribution may have been his encouraging words to Keels before the game and at halftime.
“Inside the locker room Wendell talked to me and said ‘Just play. Just play like yourself,’” Keels said. “I mean, he said something to me at halftime, you know, even the guys said something to me. This is what’s special about this group. Everybody wants each other to succeed. That really got to me, you know. So I said, I’ll just play like myself out there. And that’s what I did.”
Keels tied the career-high 25 points he scored in Duke’s season-opening win over Kentucky.
Mark Williams, Duke’s 7-1 center, scored 16 points at Clemson for the Blue Devils while freshman forward Paolo Banchero added 15 points. The Blue Devils shot 57.7% in the second half to finish at 49.2% for the game.
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Clemson (12-12, 4-9 ACC) shot just 37.9% in the game. P.J. Hall led the Tigers with 17 points.
Duke led by as many as 13 points in the first half before taking a 38-27 halftime lead.
The Blue Devils jumped to an 18-6 lead only to see Clemson reel off eight consecutive points to draw close.
After Duke led 27-14, Clemson scored six consecutive points. But that burst ended with an ugly play.
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Duke’s Moore stole the ball and drove for a breakaway dunk. But Clemson senior guard David Collins ran from behind and crashed into Moore’s hip and legs while Moore was dunking the ball.
The officials called an intentional foul and, after video review, ejected Collins. Moore hit one of two free throws. On Duke’s ensuing possession, Banchero was fouled and hit two free throws for a 32-20 Duke lead with 2:57 to play in the half.
Clemson shot 36% over the first 20 minutes while Duke hit 43% of its shot from the field.
This story was originally published February 10, 2022 at 10:03 PM.