ACC Basketball.
A thrill a minute.
Well, maybe not literally. But there were thrills aplenty in Duke’s hanging-on-by-a-fingernail 68-66 win over Miami Saturday afternoon in Cameron in a fiercely-contested men’s basketball game.
There was Dariq Whitehead barely beating the shot clock with a 45-foot bank shot. That came with 16:15 left and gave Duke a 48-47 lead, a lead it never relinquished.
In part because Jeremy Roach made key plays down the stretch, on both ends of the floor, including two crucial steals against Miami star guard Isaiah Wong.
In fact, most of Roach’s 27 minutes were a thrill, after him missing Duke’s last three games with a toe injury. It may not have matched Ryan Kelly’s return from a foot injury almost exactly 10 years ago, also against Miami. But Roach gave Duke 14 points, four assists and two steals and Duke needed every single one of them.
And then there was Kyle Filipowski and Ryan Young throwing their huge bodies on to the Cameron hard court and saving several possessions down the stretch.
Duke didn’t actually score on all those possessions but they illustrated the take-no-prisoners physicality exerted by both teams.
And yes, the final seconds were a bit more thrilling than they needed to be, after Roach and then Tyrese Proctor went to the line with a chance to ice the game but missed the first end of a one-and-one. But time and score were in Duke’s favor.
The game started off like a track meet. Duke led 11-10 at the first media timeout and Miami led 20-17 at the second. Both teams were on pace for 80 plus points a quarter of the way through before the defenses regained control.
And yes, we saw some zone from Duke. And it was pretty effective at keeping Miami away from the rim, not so effective from beyond the arc.
“Well, as much as you can try and keep them out of the paint, and we did that, we gave up 10 threes which hasn’t been typical of our defense,” Scheyer said. “They’re a tough team to control the ball one-on-one. They have literally four guys that can create at all times.”
Nigel Pack was the guy creating early. The Kansas State transfer scored 11 of Miami’s first 18 points, almost equaling his season scoring average in the game’s first seven minutes.
Roach didn’t start but entered the game four minutes in and promptly assisted Whitehead in the lane.
“It’s probably the best I’ve felt since Iowa,” Roach said. “I’m just happy to be out there with my brothers and just happy we got the win.”
Duke’s biggest first-half lead was five points, three times, while Miami’s was four. Jake Grandison tied is at 38-38 with a 3-pointer and the teams went into the locker room even.
Pack cooled off after that hot start and Wong was held to 7 points; Miami coach Jim Larranaga said Wong is fighting a sinus infection.
But Jordan Miller kept the visitors in the game, scoring eight points in the first 3:11 of the second half, putting Miami up 47-45.
Then Whitehead struck. He missed a 3, Kyle Filipowski rebounded and Whitehead barely beat the clock.
Just like they drew it up.
“I was actually a little upset,” Whitehead said, “because i had an easier shot but that [second] one just fell. But that one went in and we won by two. If you ask me if I knew it was going to go in, I did not.”
Duke got a big lift from Dereck Lively II. The 7-1 freshman still isn’t strong enough to finish through contact with regularity. But in 18 minutes off the bench he gave Duke 6 points, 10 rebounds and 5 blocks, coming in for special praise from Scheyer.
“I thought everybody on the team stepped up at different moments and for me, Dereck Lively, he’s been working his butt off every day with Coach Jefferson. He keeps getting better and for him to have six offensive rebounds, 10 rebounds overall, five blocked shots.”
Duke built on that Whitehead dagger. Grandison hit another 3-pointer, Jeremy Roach scored twice inside and Duke had Miami on the ropes, up 59-51 with the ball, at the midpoint of the second half.
But this game always seemed like it was going to come down to the wire. Whitehead’s two free throws gave Duke that eight-point lead with 10:20 left. But Duke went almost four minutes without a point, nine missed field goals and a turnover.
Duke’s defense held. Miami could score only six points in that span before Roach stopped the bleeding with a layup. Roach assisted Tyrese Proctor on a triple and Duke led 64-57, with 5:17 left.
This would be Duke’s last made field goal.
But Filipowski knocked down four huge foul shots, the first two putting Duke up 66-63 after Miami had closed to a point, the final two putting Duke up 68-64 with 19 seconds left.
“Just stay poised to the very end,” Filipowski said. “I’ve always been a believer in free throws. My parents taught me how important they were growing up, that free throws win games.”
Filipowski’s right knee was visibly bleeding below his tights, a vivid sign of those loose ball floor burns.
“Just gutting it out,” Scheyer said of those frantic final minutes. “Getting loose balls, finishing plays, because you like to say ‘make shots’ and we do, we execute. I thought we got some good ones, but our defense has been our backbone and I think we are the type of team we have to gut it out and scrap and crawl and we did that. The last minute, that stop that we got I think it was a two- or three-point game and just to come up with the loose ball, really to me, was the difference.”
“Just had to get a stop,” Roach said. “That’s the main focus when we went out there. I was really just having flashbacks to last year [against Miami}. They had like two or three crucial buckets in like the last minute-thirty last year, and I just didn’t want that to happen to me. Getting stops was the biggest key in those last two minutes. I just didn’t want him [Wong] to score, get in the lane and try to find somebody, or me getting caught off, he gets a step on me and gets a layup. I just wanted to get a stop.”
Miller (19 points) and Pack (18) led Miami, while wide-body post Norchad Omier gave Miami 9 points and 14 rebounds.
But Filipowski matched those 14 rebounds and led Duke with 17 points. Roach, Proctor (11) and Whitehead (10) joined him in double figures.
Duke didn’t get a single point in transition. But they outrebounded Miami 44-38, hit 9 of 21 from beyond the arc and assisted on 19 of 25 made field goals.
Grandison led Duke in assists with six.
“Jake is just a calming force,” Scheyer said. “He makes really easy plays. Ball doesn’t stick with him. He’s the best post passer that we have. He’s always a threat.”
The win keeps Duke undefeated at Cameron and runs their ACC record to 5-3, 14-5 overall. Miami drops to 6-3 and 15-4.
No rest for the weary. Virginia Tech Monday night, on the road. Scheyer says Duke will enjoy this for awhile and get ready for the Hokies.
But this is a good Miami team and this was a good win, one that Whitehead said Duke wouldn’t have been able to pull out a few weeks ago,
Enjoy it and build on it.
There's another lineup question. If Lively keeps playing at the level we saw against Miami does Scheyer move him back into the starting lineup and bring Young off the bench?
Duke had much better ball movement in this game which resulted in open looks. Roach’s leadership was key.
Lively needs to build off this game.
Who starts now that Roach is back? Does Whitehead get bumped to the bench?