Duke Blue Devils vs Clemson Tigers Basketball Recap

Duke 70, Clemson 59

Duke closed out a perfect season at home, but the bigger story of an ACC encounter is that the Clemson Tigers probably (though not definitely) missed out on their last chance to make a very strong statement to the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee.

The Duke Blue Devils posted a ragged yet not-too-dramatic victory over the Clemson Tigers on Senior Night for Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, North Carolina. The victory, on an emotional evening in one of college basketball’s cathedrals, sets up a Saturday showdown for the Blue Devils at North Carolina for the ACC regular season championship – the teams are tied at the top of the league with 13-2 records. The victory was number 896 for Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, six behind his mentor, Bob Knight, at 902. Krzyzewski’s next NCAA Tournament game will be his 100th, the first coach to reach that milestone.

Brad Brownell’s Tigers, sitting near the bubble for Selection Sunday with a 19-10 record, and 8-7 in ACC play, will host Virginia Tech on Saturday in their regular season finale. The Hokies, with a 9-6 conference record, currently hold the fourth seed in ACC standings and have a chance to retain that position, even with a loss on Saturday. They’ll need to beat this same Clemson team in the Palmetto State at Littlejohn Coliseum; if they don’t, they’ll need to see what happens in the Florida State-NC State game and the Boston College-Wake Forest clash. Meanwhile, however, Clemson lost on a night when the Tigers needed to rack up a high-value win. Clemson’s best win on its entire resume is a home win over Florida State. Teams generally have to do better than that to earn a ticket to the Big Dance. Yes, the bubble is horrible this season, but Clemson isn’t giving the Selection Committee a lot of reasons to include the Tigers in Bracketville when the ACC season concludes. Clemson has a lot of work to do at the upcoming ACC Tournament.

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Despite a season-high 20 turnovers, Duke managed to stave off a hungry Clemson team with aggressive play at both ends of the floor. The Blue Devils led by as many as 11 points in the first half, but the Tigers cut the halftime score to a single bucket, 36-34.

Duke’s bench players didn’t score in the game, but the talented and seasoned Smith (21 points, seven assists) plus Singler (18 points and 11 rebounds) and young Seth Curry (18 points) led the charge for the Devils. Duke’s Mason Plumlee (eight points, seven rebounds, and five blocked shots) and Ryan Kelly (five points and six rebounds) also provided well-rounded contributions on Wednesday, giving Coach K everything that was needed to ultimately dispatch the feisty but flawed Tigers, who kept .

Clemson was led by Demontez Stitt with 14 points and Milton Jennings with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Jerai Grant had eight points and 11 rebounds for the Tigers. Clemson was held to a 30.4 percent shooting percentage for the game on 69 attempts. Duke hit 42.3 percent of its 52 attempts.

By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer