Florida State’s upset bid fell one point short Thursday as the Seminoles lost 80-79 to Duke in the ACC Tournament. despite outplaying the Blue Devils for long stretches and erasing a nine-point second-half deficit to pull within one in the final minute.
FSU gave the Blue Devils everything they could handle and then some Thursday, holding a lead at halftime and at one point sitting ahead by eight points, but a 12-0 Blue Devils run in the second half proved too much to overcome.
Advertisement
First half
Florida State went down four early but battled back, with FSU’s much-praised challenge team successfully overturning an out-of-bounds call that led to a Robert McCray V jumper and an 11-9 game. A 10-0 run gave the Seminoles a four-point lead near the 13-minute mark, a Chauncey Wiggins three putting them up 15-11. Duke evened things up before a Jones layup put FSU back ahead, 17-15.
Duke went on a run of its own, leading 23-19 after back-to-back threes, before a missed and-one free throw led to a Jones three that made it a one-point game. The Blue Devils went to the line early and often, much as they did in January’s matchup when they went 23-25 from the stripe, but Florida State managed to respond every time.
The Seminoles retook the lead at 7:12 on a McCray three, 28-27, but an offensive board led to a Duke three and another lead change. Jones yoinked it back two minutes later with a pair of free throws, 32-31. Duke hit a three on the other end, FSU answered with a Sommerville three, 35-34 with 4:48 left.
Advertisement
Duke retook the lead off free throws then extended it on a three, going up 39-35 with 2:38 left, but FSU responded immediately with another Sommerville stepback three. Jones took the lead back with a drive on Boozer, only for McCray’s third foul of the half to send him to the bench and hand Duke two more free throws.
Jones hit both of his own to make it 42-41 with 43 seconds left, but a Steen foul gave Boozer two more and Duke a 43-42 lead. McCray had the last word though, a jumper at the buzzer giving FSU a 44-43 halftime lead.
The Seminoles outshot Duke 52% to 45% but were outrebounded 26-11, with Duke grabbing 11 offensive boards to FSU’s one. FSU committed 11 fouls to Duke’s six, sending the Blue Devils to the line 20 times against just six attempts for FSU. The Seminoles generated 11 points off turnovers to Duke’s three.
Advertisement
Second half
FSU started the second with a bang, Wiggins blocking a Boozer layup and converting the fast break into a pullup three to push the lead to four. Duke leveled it at 47 apiece off free throws before McCray drove in for a layup and then converted two more free throws after back-to-back Duke fouls to put the Seminoles up three. The whistles had swung Florida State’s way, Duke committing four fouls in the first four minutes of the half.
McCray kept cooking, a turnaround jumper in the paint making it 54-49 at the under-16 timeout. Florida State successfully challenged another call at 15:57, getting the ball back, and though it didn’t immediately result in a basket, a Wiggins stepback two and then a McCray three on the fast break stretched the lead to eight — the largest for either team to that point.
Duke fought back on the boards, Cameron Boozer tipping in his own miss and then hitting a second-chance three to pull within three, triggering an FSU timeout. Bassong answered with a driving layup to push it back to three, but a Sommerville foul led to a Sarr layup and then McCray threw back-to-back bad passes, both stolen by Maliq Brown and converted into easy Duke buckets. The Blue Devils had turned a 12-0 run into a 70-61 lead with 7:59 left.
Advertisement
FSU scored its first basket in over four minutes with a McCray paint jumper to make it 70-63, but Cameron Boozer answered on the fast break to push it back to nine. Jones hit both free throws off a steal and then drove in for a layup to cut it to five, and after Duke hit a three the teams traded threes to make it 75-70 with 3:59 left. McCray drove in for a layup to pull within three, Duke hit another three, and Jones responded with his fourth three of the game to make it 78-75 with 2:26 remaining.
Jones tried to tie it with another three but Evans got a piece of it. McCray grabbed the offensive board and Jones was fouled on the follow-up, hitting both free throws to pull within one with 1:28 on the clock. Duke pushed back to three on a Cayden Boozer tip-in off an Evans miss, but Wiggins hit a stepback to pull FSU within one with 37 seconds left. Steen blocked a Cameron Boozer attempt with eight seconds remaining and got the rebound, but McCray’s stepback three was off the mark on the final possession and Duke held on 80-79.
Jones led FSU with 28 points on 8-of-15 shooting with four threes, while McCray added 25 on 10-of-19 with four assists. The Seminoles outshot Duke 52% to 44% and won the turnover battle 15-10, but Duke’s 22 offensive rebounds to FSU’s six and a 14-23 performance from the free throw line ultimately made the difference.
