Duke survives again. Blue Devils beat Miami, advance to ACC tournament title game
COVID-19 meant Wendell Moore didn’t play in the ACC tournament as a freshman and didn’t lose there as a sophomore last year.
On Friday night, in his first normal ACC tournament experience, Moore’s clutch play put the Blue Devils on the verge of a championship.
The junior team captain scored 13 of his 17 points after halftime as the top-seeded Blue Devils fought their way to a 80-76 ACC tournament semifinal win over Miami at Barclays Center.
The win moved No. 7-ranked Duke (28-5) into Saturday night’s ACC tournament final against No. 7 seed Virginia Tech, which upended No. 3 UNC late Friday night.
Duke’s shot at the title came two years after the ACC tournament was canceled prior to the Blue Devils playing a game and one year after Duke won two games before withdrawing from the tournament due to positive COVID-19 cases.
Freshmen A.J. Griffin scored 21 points and Paolo Banchero added 18 points and 11 rebounds for the Blue Devils.
“This is a game where both teams are worthy of winning,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “Kids are making really good plays. We didn’t win because somebody made a mistake or fumbled into something. Everything was earned and so I’m proud of my guys.”
Kameron McGusty scored 24 points while Jordan Miller added 17 for Miami (23-10), which had defeated Duke 76-74 in their lone regular-season meeting at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Jan. 8.
That night, Duke turned the ball over 17 times. On Saturday night they did that just 10 times.
“Normally, we would like to turn them over more,” Miami coach Jim Larranaga said. “They had 10 turnovers. We would prefer them to have 15-16 turnovers. That would have given us a much better chance to close out the game.”
The Hurricanes led by as many as 11 in the first half but hit only 3 of 10 3-pointers in the second half. Missed free throws also hurt Miami, which finished 6 of 12 from the line.
The teams traded leads in the second half after the score was tied at intermission. Duke led by has many as seven points before Miami led 62-61 with 6:05 left.
Moore imposed his will to allow the Blue Devils to take over again. He hit a pull-up jumper, blocked a shot at the other end then scored on a drive at the other end giving Duke a 65-62 Duke lead with 5:28 to play.
Sam Waardenburg’s 3-pointer tied the score again, at 65, before Roach hit two free throws. Keels scored in transition off a Moore pass with 4:13 left giving Duke a 69-65 lead.
Miami cut Duke’s lead to a single point at 72-71 when Isaiah Wong hit two free throws with 1:22 to play. But Moore drew a foul and hit two free throws of his own with 58.6 seconds left.
McGusty was called for traveling with 47 seconds left and Jeremy Roach hit 1 of 2 free throws for Duke. But Banchero rebounded Roach’s miss giving Duke another chance. Trevor Keels hit two free throws with 33.7 seconds left and Duke led 75-69.
In all, Duke hit 10 of 12 free throws in the final minute to salt away the win.
For the second day in a row, starting with Thursday’s 88-79 win over Syrcause when Duke scored the game’s final 10 points, the Blue Devils were the stronger team in the final minutes to post a win.
“I think it means a lot,” said Duke sophomore center Mark Williams, who grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked three shots. “Play like that shows the growth of our team.”
After the teams were tied 36 at halftime, Banchero spurred an 10-4 run that gave the Blue Devils a 55-48 lead with 11:32 to play. Banchero scored six points during that stretch, including a rebound put-back off a Roach miss, a dunk off a pass from Trevor Keels and a jump shot.
Roach scored on a driving shot with 9:58 to play giving Duke a 59-52 lead.
But Miami fought back and when McGusty hit a 3-pointer over Williams’ outstretched hand with 6:05 to play, the Hurricanes led 62-61.
Miami’s hot start, making 7 of its first 10 shots, helped it build an 18-7 lead in the game’s first six minutes and four seconds. Duke struggled with turnovers early, with five before the game was 10 minutes old. But Banchero’s aggressive play on offense and strong rebounding brought Duke back.
He slammed in a Williams’ miss before scoring in the lane. Banchero’s pass to Williams in transition led to a basket that tied the score at 22.
Miami used another strong spurt of offense to go up 29-22. That’s when Griffin found his groove, scoring Duke’s next 12 points.
With Miami up 32-24, Griffin scored on a bank shot following a strong drive to the rim. He hit a 3-pointer and, after two missed Miami free throws, drilled another to tie the score at 32.
The teams traded baskets from there, with Roach scoring on a finger-roll lay in with one second left in the half to send the teams to halftime tied at 36.
This story was originally published March 11, 2022 at 9:12 PM.