Duke Takes ACC Crown for 17th Time!

Losing wasn’t an option for the Blue Devils when they arrived in Atlanta for the ACC Tournament on Thursday evening.

Tonight the team heads back home to Durham following their 79-69 win over Florida State in the ACC Championship game with their head held high.

“It’s a great day and we are really excited about have that taste,” senior Greg Paulus said. “We want to get more now.”

What the Blue Devils are after next is a run in the NCAA Tournament with Duke slated to go up against Binghamton in the opening round.

“Now we are starting a new season because it’s your one and done,” Kyle Singler said. “We have to keep the same mindset, stay healthy and whatever [momentum] we have now just carry over because we know we are playing good basketball.”

The Duke Blue Devils (28-6, 12-5) were crowned kings of the ACC for the eighth time in 11 years winning their first Conference Tournament since 2006.

“Night and day” is the way Lance Thomas described the difference between the Blue Devils previous two conference tournaments and this year’s.

“I feel like we underachieved last year,” Thomas said. “We had a way better mindset coming into this tournament. Losing wasn’t an option.”

Jon Scheyer, Kyle Singler and Gerald Henderson each put together strong performances in the team’s three tournament games, each earning first team all-tournament honors.

But today’s game belonged to Scheyer, who led Duke with 29 points going 6-of-10 from the floor and 4-of-6 from three. He also managed to reach the free throw line 15 times connecting on 13 of his attempts while playing 38 minutes.

His final’s performance was good enough to net the junior guard the tournament’s MVP award.

“He had a heck of a tournament,” Greg Paulus said. “He did a great job for us and made big time plays.

It wasn’t surprising to see Scheyer play well throughout the tournament.

Since becoming the starting point guard the junior guard has averaged 19.1 points per game and 3.3 three-point field goals made per game over his last eight contests including the first two games of the ACC Tournament. He also has 19 assists, 14 steals and just eight turnovers during this stretch.

“He makes plays for himself and others,” Singler said. “That spot for us, when Jon has been there, has been huge for us.”

Duke and Scheyer has been steady with the basketball throughout the tournament committing just 11 turnovers as a team in the win over Maryland and 12 in the win over Boston College.

Today Duke committed their fewest turnovers of the season turning it over just four times. Scheyer committed just five in three ACC Tournament games running the offense.

The win today ties Duke with North Carolina for most ACC Tournament Championships all-time with 17 and most all-1time wins in the tournament with 84.
This was their 28th ACC Championship game all-time.

But for most of the current Duke players this was the first chance they have had to cut down the nets. Nolan Smith, who did his best Gerald Henderson impression in the first half throwing down a thundering dunk, said it took a moment for him to cut down his piece of the net during the victory celebration.

Singler had an easier time with the net.

“I won a lot of championships in high school so I had a lot of practice,” Singler said. “For the first time in college it feels good.”

In the first two games in ACC Tournament games Singler averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds. He scored 14 points today in the win, and played 40 minutes for the third straight game.

Henderson finally went off on the offensive end today scoring 27 points, after scoring 16 points on 5-of-12 shooting against Boston College and eight points on 3-of-14 shooting against Maryland.

Henderson, Scheyer and Singler all hit big shots in the first half during a stretch where the Blue Devils connected on five straight from 3s ending the first half shooting 7-of-14 from long range.

“Everyone was shooting the ball well,” Singler said. “It was big for us. It was a big confidence booster to see the ball go in the basket. We didn’t want to have the mindset that we were going to outscore them. We wanted to play defense for 40 minutes and I think that’s what won the game for us.”

Duke held the Seminoles without a field goal just over eight minutes in the first half.

Brian Zoubek play on the defensive end was crucial as the 7’1” center disrupted the play of the Florida State bigs inside after they were able to score a few buckets inside early.

“It’s hard for somebody to shoot over somebody who is 7’1” even if the other person is 7’1”,” Zoubek said.

“I think they got a little discouraged after that first blocked shot,” he added.

The Blue Devils will hope to discourage Binghamton in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament in Greensboro, N.C. on Thursday.

“We have players that play as well as any players in the country,” Singler said. “We have a team, we have a coaching staff, and with that we are a very confident team.”

Duke Falls Short to UNC, 79-71

Tyler Hansbrough scored 17 points in his final home game to help No. 2 North Carolina beat No. 7 Duke 79-71 Sunday and win the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title.

Ty Lawson added 13 points and several key plays late for the Tar Heels (27-3, 13-3 ACC), who earned the top seed for next week's league tournament in Atlanta. North Carolina shot 53 percent for the game and led most of the second half for its sixth win in seven meetings with Duke.

Jon Scheyer scored 24 points for the Blue Devils (25-6, 11-5), while Kyle Singler added 23. But they never could overtake the Tar Heels once they fell behind midway through the second half, falling short in their bid to clinch at least a share of the league's regular-season crown for the first time since 2006.

North Carolina swept the Blue Devils for the second time in the past 13 years. The Tar Heels also won the ACC outright for the third time in five seasons.

Wayne Ellington added 16 points and Deon Thompson had 14 for North Carolina.

While Hansbrough had another strong performance, it was Lawson — who had 25 points in the first meeting — who took control when the Tar Heels were clinging to a 70-68 lead with 3½ minutes left. First he drove into the paint and kicked out to Danny Green for a 3-pointer, then drove past Scheyer for a layup and drew the foul for a three-point play that made it 76-69 with 1:03 left.

Duke led 39-38 at halftime behind 15 points from Singler, who repeatedly found himself open on the perimeter as the Blue Devils penetrated and kicked out for open looks. But they didn't fare much better defensively than the Tar Heels, with both teams shooting 56 percent in the opening 20 minutes.

In the second half, however, only the Tar Heels were able to continue that kind of efficiency.

Duke Upends Fla St, 84-81

The final moments of this meeting of two of the Atlantic Coast Conference's top scorers lived up to the hype, with Henderson scoring nine of his 21 points in the final 2 minutes to help No. 7 Duke beat Douglas and No. 24 Florida State 84-81 on Tuesday night.

"I just knew it was a pressure situation — the game hadn't been decided and they were right there," Henderson said. "I have a lot of confidence in myself, as my teammates and my coaches have in me, and those situations, I feel like I can make something happen."

Kyle Singler scored 20 points, Jon Scheyer had 17 and Henderson added a career-high 10 rebounds for Duke (25-5, 11-4 ACC), which won its fifth straight, matched the NCAA record for most wins in a decade with 286 and moved a half-game behind No. 2 North Carolina in the league standings.

Douglas finished with 27 points for the Seminoles (22-8, 9-6), and his 3-pointer from the right wing gave Florida State a 76-74 lead with 2:25 remaining.

That's when Henderson took over.

"'G' trumped it," coach Mike Krzyzewski said.

He countered with a 3 from the right corner with 1:39 remaining to put Duke up 77-76. After the Blue Devils forced a stop on Douglas, he knocked down two free throws to make it a three-point game with 57.3 seconds left.

"Toney Douglas is a really good player — probably the best in our league," Henderson said. "He hit some really big shots."

So did Henderson.

Douglas was being bothered by two defenders as he missed a 3 with about 45 seconds remaining, and the rebound made its way to Henderson — who hustled downcourt, sidestepped one defender and drew contact from the 7-foot-1 Solomon Alabi as he hit a layup.

Henderson hit the free throw that followed to make it 82-76, then added another with 5 seconds left. That sent Duke on the way to its 16th victory at Cameron Indoor Stadium. During the past two seasons, the Blue Devils' only defeats there have come against rival North Carolina.

Duke Knocks Down Virginia Tech, 72-65

Kyle Singler stood on the end line trying to inbound the ball late in a tight game and suddenly found himself reaching back for his days as a high school quarterback.

Seeing Greg Paulus waving at him and wide open on the other end of the floor, Singler threw a long pass that Paulus took in for an easy layup on Saturday, one of several critical second-half plays for Singler that helped boost No. 7 Duke past Virginia Tech, 72-65.

"It was kind of a football-football thing," Singler said of the pass that sent Paulus, also a former quarterback, in for the basket that gave Duke a 68-63 lead with 33 seconds left.

"You get a layup at that point, God Bless America," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said.

Singler scored 19 of his 21 points in the second half after foul trouble forced him to watch much of the first half, and he made the Hokies pay for focusing too much on Gerald Henderson. He scored 17 of his 21 points before halftime, before Singler got rolling.

"I felt like I needed to give the team a boost because I hadn't done much in the first half," Singler, the Blue Devils' second-leading scorer with a 16-point average, said.

Doing it in a game that was tied with six minutes to play, and against a team that was fighting desperately for another victory to boost its NCAA tournament hopes, made it better.

"A team like that that's hungry for a win, fighting, those are the games that you're going to play towards the end of the season in March," Singler said. "Game pressure like that is definitely big and it shows that this team has a lot of confidence and character."

Duke Tops Maryland, 78-67

Gerald Henderson scored 19 points, Jon Scheyer hit a key 3-pointer with 1:54 left, and the seventh-ranked Blue Devils spoiled Maryland's bid for another upset with a 78-67 victory Wednesday night.

Duke blew away the Terrapins 85-44 last month, but Maryland was coming off a surprise win over then-No. 3 North Carolina. So the Blue Devils had a feeling it wouldn't be nearly so easy this time around.

"The last time we played them they were really going in a different direction," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "We knew it would be a vintage Maryland team and we knew it would be a vintage Maryland crowd. This is a tough place to win."

The fans were on their feet long before the opening tip, and many of the students remained standing throughout. Several carried signs, one of which read, "DUKE HATES PUPPIES."

It was 60-all with 5:44 left, but by the time Scheyer's pivotal shot from beyond the arc made it 72-63, the volume of the sellout crowd had already dropped several decibels.

"We kind of seized the game there," Krzyzewski said.

Elliot Williams had 15 points and Scheyer added 12 for the Blue Devils (23-5, 9-4 Atlantic Coast Conference), who ended a three-game road losing streak in the conference. Duke has won four straight over Maryland for the first time since 1997-2000.

"It was definitely a big, big win for us," Duke's Kyle Singler said. "We knew coming in it would be a tough game. Maryland is playing well after their big win against North Carolina, but we stuck together and at the end of the game, we hit big shots."

Landon Milbourne scored 19 points for Maryland (17-10, 6-7), which played much of the second half without leading scorer Greivis Vasquez, who was saddled with foul trouble.

"It was a big impact," Milbourne said of the loss of Vasquez. "Greivis is definitely a leader on this team. He's the leading scorer, he's almost leading in every category. You can definitely see a difference when he's not on the court."

Despite the loss, Maryland coach Gary Williams lauded his team's performance.