Duke coming in to Tallahassee is always a dog fight and why wouldn’t a top 20 matchup featuring 2 of the best defenses in the ACC be any different. Florida State entered the game with an even record of 1 and 1 in the ACC and the Devils boasting a 2-0 record. Coach K teams have made a habit of losing their number 1 ranking to Leonard Hamilton teams on the road but this young Duke team was looking to change that trend.
The teams trade blows in the first half with the Blue Devils pushing to a 10 point lead before the Seminoles battled back to take a 1 point lead at the half. The Blue Devils second leading scorer and leading rebounder, Zion Williamson, left the game in the first half with 11 points and 8 rebounds before being poked in the eye and leaving for the remainder of the game.
Luckily for the Blue Devils the slumping freshman forward Cam Reddish picked a perfect game to come alive offensively for Coach K. Reddish scored 7 points in the first half on his way to 23 for the game. The Seminoles began the second half with a flurry of alley top dunks that the Blue Devils could do little to stop but FSU couldn’t muster more than a 5 point lead. Duke and FSU volleyed for the lead 13 times and were knotted up evenly 10 times.
P.J. Savoy made a pair of free throws with just under 16 seconds left in the game to put FSU ahead 78-76. RJ Barrett drove and got the line but hit only the first of two free throws with 5 seconds left to trim the led to 1. The Blue Devils were able to maintain possession of the ball after Florida State knocked it out of bounds. FSU and Duke traded timeouts, each trying to suss out the out of bounds play Duke would use. With 2.8 seconds on the clock and all eyes and defense set up to stop an R.J. Barrett last second attempt. Tre Jones, was able to find an open Cam Reddish behind the 3 point line. Reddish drained the 3 with 0.8 seconds left on the clock to seal the Duke victory.
Freshman RJ Barrett scored a game high 32 points, one shy of the career high 33 in the Kentucky win. Barrett’s four three-pointers were also a career high. Freshman Cam Reddish scored 23 points, two shy of the career high 25 in the Army West Point win.
