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Turning Point

A 23-10 Duke run at the start of the second half turned a four-point Duke deficit into a 53-42 lead with 9:37 left.  Virginia had a chance to tie with a triple on the game’s last possession but missed a pair of attempts from downtown.

Blue Devil Ballers

Mason Plumlee had a strong second half and finished the game with 12 points and seven boards.  Austin Rivers and Seth Curry each scored 11, Andre Dawkins chipped in 10 points, and Ryan Kelly contributed nine points and seven boards.

Duke Data

19 — Consecutive wins by Duke in ACC home openers

17-1 — Duke’s record in the past 18 games against UVA (Duke hasn’t lost at home to the Cavs since 1995)

29.4% — UVA’s FG% in the second half, compared to 60.9% for Duke

1 — Teams this season that have shot better than 50% from the floor against UVA (Duke shot 52.2% in the game)

Coach K’s Comments

“That was an unbelievable game. It was a war. I thought both teams competed at the highest level. It was really a terrific win for our kids because they had to fight for 40 minutes against an outstanding team, a veteran team obviously and an extremely well-coached team with a player who’s playing probably as well as anybody in the country. Thirty-two points in the first half, [Mike Scott] had 16, but he probably was a part of six or eight more with his passes. Basically, he was responsible for 60 percent of their offense in the first half. When a man does that in this type of game, he’s a helluva player. I’m proud of our guys. I thought they never quit. They played strong. The Plumlees, I thought, were the key to the game, their physicality and our defense. I thought we played much better defense on Scott in the second half, and that was both Mason and Miles. I also thought it was by far the best defensive game that Andre Dawkins has ever played. Everyone talks about his shooting, but he really played well defensively. And we did a good job against [Sammy] Zeglinski and [Joe] Harris. Those three kids – Scott, Harris and Zeglinski – are their guys. And we were able to at least limit Harris and we were fortunate we shut down Zeglinski. And then we thought Scott couldn’t beat us by himself but he was doing a good job of it for a while. Great win for us. I’m proud of my guys. We’re young, and I think our schedule has helped us. We’ve played such a tough schedule, so it helped us in today’s game.”

Locker Room Reaction

“That was a huge win for us.  We’ve won games in crunch time, and I think we showed it again.  I was really proud of our team because we won a different type of game.  This was a low-scoring game, possession-by-possession.  We had to execute and then we had to defend, and I thought we did a really good job of that.”
Mason Plumlee

“They’re a great team.  I think people know who they are, but they’re still kind of underrated.  Virginia is a great team.  Every team they play, whether it’s us, North Carolina, it’s going to be a great game – if they play Kentucky, Kansas.  They’re older, they’re smart, and the way they play kind of frustrates a lot of teams, especially teams like us or Kentucky or Carolina that have a lot of athletic players that like to get up and down.  That’s how we like to play, and when you have someone like Virginia, really smart guys who slow it down, it changes a lot of things.  And we were able to stay strong mentally and get through it.”
Austin Rivers

Crazies

Around the Web

Box score — Stat recap

AP recap — No. 8 Duke Outlasts No. 16 Virginia

Quotes — Coach and player comments

Notes — Team and player updates

Notes

*Next up: Duke visits Clemson for a Sunday matchup at 6 PM (ESPNU).

*Former players Reggie Love and Matt Christiansen attended the game.

*Gen. Dempsey — Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — attended the game and spoke to the team in the locker room afterward.

Fave Photo

Mason caught this lob (left-handed) and converted the alley-oop

In Pictures Game Gallery

Top Plays/Post-Game Reaction

Turning Point

Georgia Tech rallied from 18 down to close within two in the second half.  With a chance to tie or take the lead, Austin Rivers stole a Yellow Jacket pass and went coast-to-coast for a layup with 1:56 left.  Ryan Kelly made all 14 of his free throw attempts in the game, including eight in the game’s final 36 seconds.

Blue Devil Ballers

Ryan Kelly scored a career-high 21 points on just four field-goal attempts (3-4 FG, 14-14 FT).  Seth Curry scored 15 points and Quinn Cook contributed 10 points and five assists in his first start.

Duke Data

13 — Duke halves, out of the past 14, in which the Blue Devils have scored at least 40 points

9 — Turnovers by Duke in the game (a season-low)

80.6% — Duke’s FT% in the game (29-36 FT) compared to 63.2% for GA Tech (12-19 FT)

14-14 — Ryan Kelly from the charity stripe, matching Gene Banks (1980) and JJ Redick (2005) for second-most free throws made without a miss in a Duke game (Dick Groat was 17-for-17 in 1950)

Coach K’s Comments

“We won a terrific game. I thought both team played really well. Welcome to the ACC. Brian’s (Gregory) team was well prepared. Crowd was good. I thought we started out great. We had a chance to go 20,15 up. We had some open looks and when we didn’t knock those open looks down I think we showed a lack of experience. I think we came down on the defensive end still thinking about the open shot we missed and then there’s Glen Rice (Jr.) and he’s open and he’s hit a three. Once Rice got going, I thought Tech got going. He’s a high level player, a high level athlete. He made some shots where I thought we had good defense. Once he got going he was really good. Udofia, I thought he played one of his best games this year. I watched about 6 of their games before this and I like him a lot. He’s a great kid and he’s got a rhythm also. I thought they played well. We had to play really well to win and there was a lot of game pressure on at the end to see our guys respond that way is terrific. This was our first ACC game and we started two freshmen.  I know people think of Duke and we’ve got these chiseled guys who are All-Americans right away and that doesn’t happen. You have to gain your experience and I thought Quinn Cook played a great game on the road against a very athletic perimeter. The way he started was why we started so well I think. I thought he gave us a great verve. Our foul trouble and lack of defensive rebounding gave us trouble in the first half. Tech’s a really good rebounding team and they’ve outrebounded most of their opponents I think. They beat us by twelve today but they had ten offensive rebounds in the first half.  Ryan (Kelly) was terrific to go 14 for 14 and at the end 10 for 10. Our best play was to say, ‘Mason if they score get it into Ryan.’ That was the best play I called all day. Good thing they saved a seat for me on the plane. I got one thing right today. We’re proud of our effort and we beat a really good team who I think had a great effort against us.”

Locker Room Reaction

“It’s a new lease on life, really.  We were all 0-0 in coming into today and we’re 1-0 now.  That’s all that matters.  Everything else is done, and we’ve got to focus on the ACC.”
Ryan Kelly

“Guys made some big plays to help us win.  It showed a lot of toughness on the road in the ACC, and that’s what we need.”
Seth Curry

“I just got good advice from Tyler.  He told me to stay ready, stay sharp, and once I got that first shot on the first play, I knew it was going to be a good day.”
Quinn Cook

“Everyone thinks we’re Duke, and we have guys with beards and hair on their chests, sailing the seas with pirates.  But we started two freshmen today.”
Coach K, on his young and developing team

Crazies

Duke fan Andre drove in from Memphis to attend the game

Around the Web

Box score — Stat recap

AP recap — No. 5 Duke Holds Off GA Tech

Quotes — Coach and player comments

Notes — Team and player updates

Notes

*Next up: Duke plays No. 23 Virginia in Cameron on Thursday (9 PM, ESPN).

Fave Photo