0 - 0 Duke may have not come out of the gate on fire offensively but their defense looked more than ready, good thing too. The Blue Devils took control of the game early and for most of the game, it had the feel of another Duke blow out in the Garden, but the Huskies just didn't give up or go away.
In the last four minutes of the game is when Washington mounted a furious comeback led by Duke's inability to hit free throws. Mason Plumlee was the worst offender in that category.
Plumlee only made 2 of 11 from the charity stripe. Duke as a team was only 27 of 44 and end up missing almost as many as Washington took the entire game.
And after some speculation among fans, Andre Dawkins did play and didn't end up having to take a medical redshirt. He continued to show his love of Madison Square Garden and shot well once again on his way to 17 points.
Miles Plumlee also had a very nice game for the Blue Devils showing everyone glimpses of the great practice player he is said to be. He was aggressive defensively blocking three shots. But he also had some nice moves offensively finishing with nine points and adding nine rebounds.
Duke got another good performance from their star freshman Austin Rivers who scored 18 points but he did foul out with still good amount of time left in the second half and with the Huskies in the middle of their comeback.
They did get a scare when Ryan Kelly rolled his ankle and left the game for a few minutes. He would return and had a nice game, finally breaking out of a mini two-game-slump finishing with 16 points, two blocks and nine rebounds.
The Blue Devils had a comfortable lead of 14 or more points for most of the second half but when Duke started fouling and missing their own foul shots is when the Washington was able to chisel the lead down to under 10.
Fortunately, down the stretch Quinn Cook was able to hit a few free throws along with a few others and held on to win the game 86-80. The win moves Duke to 9-1 on the season.
It also the last game Duke will play for a while as they take their regular December break for exams. This will be the second significant break for the Blue Devils in the last three weeks as they had a week long break between their Nov. 29 blow out loss to Ohio State and their win against Colorado State.
We will have more on this game and more later on the Duke Sports Blog. A win is a win, but this was certainly a very ugly game down the stretch and the inexperienced showed at times.
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