Duke holds off Pitt, 79-67
DURHAM, N.C. — The belief around the college basketball world is that the Atlantic Coast Conference is having a down year. And while there’s undoubtedly some truth to the notion, Tuesday’s battle between Duke and Pitt showed that league games can still be a dogfight. Duke won this one, 79-67.
The contest at Cameron Indoor Stadium ended up being another hard fought ACC game in which either team could leave with the win. That statement would have seemed a bit absurd at the 13:43 mark of the second half when the Blue Devils pushed their lead to 18 points.
The game appeared to be developing into a blowout victory for Duke. Jeff Capel and his team had other plans.
And Coach K warned his team that Pitt wouldn't simply lie down and let the Blue Devils walk away with the victory.
“He told us in the first half this was going to be a great game - it’s going to be a fight,” Cassius Stanley said of Mike Krzyzewski’s message to the team. “We didn’t expect it to be a 20 point game. We didn’t expect it to be a blowout. We knew this team was good. They were playing well and hitting all the shots they needed to hit, so we knew the game was not over.
“We were up 18 with a lot of time. And we knew they could make that up, and they did.”
The teams fought closely for much of the first half until Duke began stretching out a lead with just over six minutes to go. By the end of the half, the Blue Devils had seemingly taken control, heading into the locker room with an 11 point advantage.
Then came the 18 point advantage in the second half and most in attendance felt Duke was on the verge of blowing the game open even further.
But, Capel found a hole in Duke’s defense and began taking it to his former school. With just over 10 minutes to go in the game, Pitt began a 13-2 run over the next 5:32 to cut Duke’s lead to just three points, 68-65.
The momentum was completely on Pitt’s side and Duke seemed to have no answer. This was particularly true in the paint area, where the Panthers scored 22 points in the second half.
Pitt’s Au’Diese Toney was Duke’s biggest problem in the second half, when he scored 19 of his game high 27 points. He was simply dominating the Blue Devils and finding ways to attack the basket. Duke had no answer during the stretch.
“They really just pushed the ball down our throat,” Jack White said. “They were able to get in our paint pretty much at will. We gave up threes. We over collapsed to get help and they were able to knock some down.
“In saying that, I’m proud of the boys and how we responded to that.”
Duke responded by closing off lanes to the basket and eliminating the easy looks Pitt was getting at the rim to climb back into the game.
The Blue Devils also turned to their leader, Tre Jones, who scored 14 points and handed out eight assists, as well as Vernon Carey, who led Duke with 26 points and 13 rebounds.
Jones helped settle the team down, and Duke began to regain control.
Duke took Pitt’s best shot in the second half, but ultimately held off Capel’s Panthers with an 11-2 run over the final 4:28 to get the victory.
Overall, though, it was a pretty strong effort across the board for Duke in the final 4:28, and also at times throughout the first half.
Jordan Goldwire was huge in the first half for Duke, hitting 3-of-4 3-pointers, posting 11 of his 13 points in the opening 20 minutes. Cassius Stanley also came up big for Duke particularly late in the second half when he hit his only 3-pointer before the shot clock ran out to put Duke back up by 10 with 2:34 remaining.
Duke made what Coach K often refers to as winning plays, and it was a positive sign for this team coming off a week long break.
“It was a tough, hard fought one for us,” Jones said. “They played extremely hard. They played well in the second half. They didn’t give up when we got the lead that we had. They kept fighting. They’re very well coached by Coach Capel. It was a big win for us. We know how tough ACC wins are, and we’ll take it.”