DURHAM – Duke dropped two games in a row last week to Clemson and Louisville and they left no question that Miami wouldn’t make it three Tuesday night, defeating the Hurricanes 89-59.
The Blue Devils got off to a fast start jumping out to a 28-9 lead and never looked back – holding the Canes to just 27.8% from the floor in the 1st period.
”I think it just starts with the energy that we had coming out tonight,” Tre Jones said after the game. “We had a lot of energy tonight, came out on all cylinders, our talk was there, our defense was there, and it translated to us hitting shots on the offensive end. Definitely, when we do the things that we can control, like talking, playing defense, flying around like that, rebounding, it definitely translates into our offense. We wanted to get back to having a hungry mindset. We definitely got away from that for a little bit, but having that hungry mindset, coming out in attack mode, and having that for the whole 40 [minutes].”
Three Blue Devils finished in double figures. Matt Hurt led all scorers with 22 points on 8 -11 shooting from the floor. Tre Jones has 18 points and 6 assists and Vernon Carey had 11. Miami’s leading scorer Chris Lykes, who averages 16 points per game, was held to just 9 points on 3-13 shooting.
“I just had open shots to start the game,” Matthew Hurt said. “That really opened my game up for driving lanes or other put-backs. Knocking down my first shot just made me feel really confident.”
“It meant a lot to us [to win tonight]. Losing two straight – first of all, we don’t want to lose at all, and losing two straight really hurt us. We just had to get back to practice yesterday. Going forward, we have the week off but we’re just going to stay aggressive, stay in the gym and just keep working and get ready for Pitt.”
Game Notes:
- Miami’s 24 points in the opening frame marked the fifth time this season Duke has held its opponent to less than 25 first half points.
- The Blue Devils’ 30-point win marked their seventh victory of 30 or more points this season, including four in ACC play to tie a school record for most 30-point ACC wins in a season – a record previously set in 1997-98, 1998-99 and 2000-01.
- Freshman Matthew Hurt went 8-of-11 from the floor, including 4-of-7 from three-point range, for 22 points. It was Hurt’s third 20-point performance this season. He also hauled in six rebounds and tied his career high with three blocks.
- Senior Javin DeLaurier recorded a season-high nine rebounds to go with five points and two blocks.
- Freshman Vernon Carey Jr. tied his career high with three assists. Carey also finished with 11 points and six boards.
- Sophomore Tre Jones netted 16 points on 6-of-13 shooting with six assists and six rebounds, marking the sixth game this season with both five-plus assists and five-plus rebounds.
- Junior Jordan Goldwire, who entered the game leading the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio in ACC play, had five assists and no turnovers. His assist-to-turnover ratio in ACC play is now 4.5-to-1 (27 assists, six turnovers).
Duke has the week off and returns to action on Tuesday, January 28 to battle Pittsburgh at Cameron Indoor Stadium at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN.
UNC Continues to Shine into the Final Stretch