Duke Upset For Second Straight Game, Loses to Miami 96-95

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Duke Upset For Second Straight Game, Loses to Miami 96-95

By Mason Kelley

Feb 21, 2008

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Miami — When North Carolina came into the BankUnited Center in January after a tough loss in its previous game, the Tar Heels soaked up some South Florida sun and overwhelmed the Miami Hurricanes in a lopsided win.

It was as if they used trip Miami like a day at the spa, a chance to recover. After suffering a tough loss of its own over the weekend, Duke came into Coral Gables with the same national ranking that UNC took into its game. The Blue Devils came in looking for a similar result as well.

The Hurricanes didn’t agree.

Dwayne Collins dominated the middle all night, finishing with a career-high 26 points as Miami beat Duke 96-95 Wednesday for just the second time in school history.

“I thought Frank (Haith’s) team played their hearts out,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “They’re having such a great year. We did not play very well, but I’m not going to sit here in front of you and not give credit to Miami."

The last time the Hurricanes beat the Blue Devils was in 1962, during Rick Barry’s sophomore year.

The Blue Devils, who trailed by as many as 20 points, rallied, but Jack McClinton preserved the win with two free throws with 1.6 seconds left on the clock.

“Duke was not going to quit,” Haith said.

Neither team looked sharp in the opening minutes. Duke and Miami each committed turnovers on their first two possessions, and the first five minutes were full of offensive fouls, sloppy passes and errant shots.

After Marcus Nelson tied the game at 7 with a layup on an inbounds pass, Miami went on a 10-4 run, building a slim cushion it would hold onto for the rest of the half.

When the two teams met earlier this month in Durham, Duke hit 12 3-pointers during an 88-73 victory. The 3-point shots didn’t fall quite so easily, at least not early, in Miami.

Greg Paulus drilled a 3 in the opening minutes. Overall, however, the Blue Devils – ranked fourth in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll and fifth in the AP poll – started cold, hitting just three of their first 14 shots from behind the arc. Taylor King and Jon Scheyer each hit 3’s late in the half to keep the game close.

During the previous matchup, Duke turned the ball over just 11 times in the game. The Hurricanes (17-7, 4-6) forced 14 in the first half and, combined with a 12-point first half from Dwayne Collins, took a 41-36 lead into the break. Collins’ high-energy play kept the sellout crowd of 6,670 on its feet all night long.

“He finished well,” Krzyzewski said. “He forced through some things and made big plays.”

The Hurricanes were coming off back-to-back ACC road wins against Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech, and that momentum seemed to give Miami a lift in the first half.

Kyle Singler opened the second half with a 3, but instead of sparking a Blue Devils’ rally, Miami responded with 10 straight points, capped by a layup from Collins. The 6-foot-8 forward was fouled on the play, but missed the free throw, and Miami led 54-39.

Duke continued to miss shots from outside, and the Hurricanes added to their lead, taking a 20-point advantage before Scheyer scored five quick points. In the last meeting between the two teams, Nelson scored 19 of his 21 points in the second half.

He scored five in the first half Wednesday, but wasn’t able to quite duplicate his second-half performance, finishing with 19 points. He improved his double-figure scoring streak to 10 games.

Miami’s Jack McClinton was coming off a six 3-pointer game against Georgia Tech and the lingering frustration of being shut down by Nelson earlier this year. The junior finished with 22.

The Blue Devils started to heat up from outside midway through the second half. Scheyer finished with 27 points, hitting five 3-pointers.

It wasn’t enough to stop Collins, McClinton and the Hurricanes, though.

“Our team – there’s something missing this week,” Krzyzewski said. “We are not the same team these last two ball games. It’s almost as if someone has come in and invaded their bodies. That’s not what we do at Duke, but it’s also not what these kids have done. We were not very good.”

Most Recent Comments

Report Abuse is your friend.

Voice...I guess I meant mental age.

voice...I will not debate anything, with anyone, who calls me an idiot, especially over a BB blog, and then calls the next poster ignorant. Golo is an adult community, we debate, but do not accept childish name calling of each other. I expect the "23" part of your name reflects your age. Goodbye.

"all of cryolina fans are so hap blah blah blah blah blah"

maddie, you make no sense.

HEY VOR, end the war now. bring home the troops. then duke might win. stupid war.

jackadoo - on what basis do you attribute last night's loss on shooting threes? When you make over 40% of them, why would you not want to keep shooting them?

This loss was from, simply put, not stopping Miami from scoring, and giving them the ball (turnovers).

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