Duke Now is your place for Blue Devil hoops and football. Beat writer Laura Keeley has up-to-the-minute news and analysis. Columnist Luke DeCock also contributes. Follow us on Twitter at @laurakeeley or @accnow.
Josh Hairston will not play for Duke when it travels to Wake Forest on Tuesday for a 9 p.m. game against the Demon Deacons.
The Blue Devils’ forward suffered a laceration under his right eye when he was hit hard by the elbow of one of Virginia Tech’s players in the early going of Saturday’s win. Hairston didn’t return to the bench after leaving to get treatment.
With both teams 12-2 in the league and 24-4 overall, the situation is virtually identical to a year ago in Chapel Hill.
Barring missteps by Duke at Wake Forest on Tuesday and North Carolina on Wednesday against Maryland, the Blue Devils and Tar Heels yet again will determine an ACC regular-season basketball title on Saturday in Durham.
With both teams 12-2 in the league and 24-4 overall, the situation is virtually identical to a year ago in Chapel Hill.
Just about every ACC game Duke has played at Cameron Indoor Stadium has gone down to the wire, and Saturday was no different as the Blue Devils needed overtime to tame Virginia Tech 70-65.
Here are three final thoughts on Duke’s win:
1. Duke finds a way – again
Trailing in the final minutes against a team that barely has a .500 record, the Blue Devils’ performance against Virginia Tech shows why just about anything seems possible for the team once the NCAA Tournament rolls around.
See video higglights from Duke's 70-65 overtime win over Virginia Tech at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham.
Updated 4:28 p.m.
DURHAM – Duke betrayed its weariness throughout its 70-65 overtime win over Virginia Tech on Saturday.
Austin Rivers would drive to the basket with some fancy footwork, but his shot would stay on the front rim, lacking the energy to tumble through the hoop. Or Rivers would get to the free-throw line and then miss one of his two shots by leaving the ball short.
Seth Curry would rise for an open 3-pointer, overcompensate for his tired legs and watch the ball sail long.
During one stretch in the first half, the entire Blue Devils team passed on the opportunity to dive on the floor for a loose ball. Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski called a timeout after that and chewed out his players for their lethargy.
DURHAM – Every play in this one suggested how much was at stake.
Tension shaped each shot, whether a turnaround jumper inside by Duke’s Haley Peters or a pull-up jumper by Miami’s Riquna Williams. Nobody wanted to give an inch.
When the buzzer sounded and backboard flashed red, it was the No. 7 Blue Devils (23-4, 14-1 ACC) who earned – snatched away, really – a 74-64 victory over the No. 5 Hurricanes (24-4, 13-2) before an announced crowd of 6,584 at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
And for that effort, they will enter next week as the No. 1 seed in the ACC women’s tournament in Greensboro. They also claimed at least a share of the ACC regular-season title.
It didn’t come easy.
Duke’s 74-66 win at Florida State on Thursday simplifies the ACC regular-season basketball race — to an extent.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Its stride getting stronger and more confident by the game, Duke is moving ever closer to one of its goals.
The Blue Devils subdued Florida State 74-66 on Thursday night at the Donald L. Tucker Center, taking another step toward the ACC regular season championship by making 13 3-pointers against a Seminoles team that entered the game having only allowed opponents to shoot 29.1 percent for 3-point attempts on the season.
Andre Dawkins made six 3-pointers to lead the Blue Devils with 22 points while Austin Rivers made four and finished with 20 points.
With the win, No. 5 Duke (24-4, 11-2) moved into a tie with North Carolina (24-4, 11-2) at the top of the ACC standings, although the Blue Devils hold the tie-breaking edge by virtue of their win in Chapel Hill. The teams play each other on March 3 at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
When Florida State’s Michael Snaer hit a game-winning 3-pointer to lift the Seminoles to a 76-73 win on Jan. 21, he became the first opponent to win a game at the buzzer at Cameron Indoor Stadium since Joe Smith propelled Maryland to a dramatic victory with a last-gasp tip-in on Jan. 28, 1995.
“I think about it a lot,” Snaer said of his heroic moment. “It was a big shot for us and a special moment for me.”
In between Snaer and Smith’s shots, opposing teams have had some dramatic wins at Cameron, just not quite as time expired. Here are some of the more memorable victories for opponents at Cameron in the last 17 years:
