Postgame thoughts from Duke's 62-61 win at Boston College

Mason Plumlee scored three of Duke's final four points in a 62-61 win at Boston College. Credit: MARY SCHWALM/AP

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass.?With 2:30 left in the game, Duke was down by three, and Mike Krzyzewski gathered his team in the huddle.

?We had a timeout and told our guys don?t panic,? he said. ?Don?t do crazy things and take crazy shots and that.?

The Blue Devils didn?t panic, and they ended the game with 4 straight defensive stops to seal a 62-61 victory. More on that in the game story.

A few more thoughts:

***When Seth Curry hit a 3-pointer to open the scoring for Duke in the second half, he moved into first place on a particular all-time scoring list.

He and his older brother, Stephen, have scored more points than any other pair of brothers in NCAA history. The two have a combined 4,493 points, moving past Tyler and Ben Hansbrough.

?It?s a cool record to say we have. It?s something me and my brother can share, and something we will talk about down the road,? Curry said. ?We talked about it a week ago because we knew we were close. We were just laughing about it because we knew it was a funny type of record.?

But more importantly: does he think that he and Stephen, a former Davidson star now with the Golden State Warriors, could be Tyler and Ben in two-on-two?

?I think so,? he said. ?We probably would have to double the post.?

***Duke looked out of rhythm early, and that wasn?t a surprise. The blizzard that dumped 24 inches of snow on the Boston area delayed their arrival from Saturday afternoon to around noon Sunday morning.

?You get a rhythm for road games,? Mason Plumlee said. ?You get there the night before and you have your pregame meal and go to bed. It was different. But things like that happen. You?ve got to be better. You can?t make excuses. I was telling guys that NBA players do that all the time. They?ll fly at 3 a.m. and play at noon sometimes. We?ve got to be able to handle that.?

The Blue Devils were obviously out of sync, and the most obvious indicator of that was their nine first-half turnovers. They had eight?in the whole game?against N.C. State.

"We were just playing sloppy," Curry said. "Some of the plays, like a post pass, we were losing the ball, missing wide open shots. I missed a few wide-open shots real bad. It shows that we didn?t have our legs and weren?t sharp. I?m just proud of the way we kept fighting."

Curry also that he felt like he didn't have his legs in the first half. Despite that, he was still Duke's best option early, scoring a team-high eight points on 3-of-6 shooting. Counting the 3-pointer he made to open the scoring for Duke in the second half, he had 11 of the team's first 30 points.

The first half was an utterly forgettable affair and ended with a 27-27 tie. It was arguably Duke?s worst half of the year. It was certainly the worst half not played in Miami.

?It was a game in which you had to fight through resistance,? Krzyzewski said. ?And in the first 12, 13 minutes, we didn?t do that. Then we started to play a little bit better.?

***Josh Hairston, who had surgery on his right arm earlier this week, played well in his 17 minutes. His stats?four points and one rebound?don?t pop off the page. But he was the best option at the 4, as Amile Jefferson struggled and played just 11 minutes, nine of which came in the opening half. Hairston started the second half in his place.

Hairston hadn?t practiced in a week, Krzyzewski said, so Duke had no clue what to expect from him. The coaches were pleasantly surprised.

***Krzyzewski offered some unsolicited praise of the Miami Hurricanes

?To me, the best team is in our conference, and it?s Miami,? he said. ?Their average age is about 23. They don?t play anybody who is young. They?re healthy, well coached, and they can score from every position.

?But then again, if they don?t tip a ball in against State, they lose.?

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Source: http://blogs.newsobserver.com/dukenow/postgame-thoughts-from-dukes-62-61-win-at-boston-college

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