Florida State at Duke: Gameday Open Thread

With live analysis and updates from courtside at Cameron Indoor

The road trip is over for Duke, but the challenges just keep coming. Just 48 hours after playing UNC in a dramatic overtime battle, the No. 7 Blue Devils host No. 8Florida State, with the winner taking sole possession of second place in the ACC.

The Noles and Blue Devils have identical 20-3 records, 10-2 in the conference. Duke spent a great deal of energy and emotion in the last three games—at Syracuse, at Boston College in a game that required a late rally to wipe out a deficit, and at Carolina, which showed what a rally from a deficit really was.

Florida State is one of the worst teams to draw for a team that’s in danger of a slight letdown. The Noles have the second best defense in the ACC according to most measures—the best team not named Virginia. FSU forces turnovers, and on offense, it hits threes and free throws. In other words, Duke needs to get on top early in this game and keep its crowd into the contest. Coming back from a slow start for the third straight game could be difficult, as the Noles aren’t likely to help the Blue Devils with their comeback.

Your starters: Tre Jones, Vernon Carey Jr, Wendell Moore Jr, Jordan Goldwire, Cassius Stanley 

FSU players cupped their hands to their ears & asked the fans to razz them louder as they came out for warmups. Safe to say they’re not intimidated

FSU has yet to take a two pointer. First four shots are all from three. All missed. Duke with two deflections on passes to the post in the first two minutes.

Next three FSU shots were from two, and the Noles missed all of them too. Down 5-2 at the under 16. Coming out, Stanley and Goldwire hit threes. FSU now 0-for-8 and down 11-2. They take a quick time out.

After a few rough games, Matthew Hurt is back. Hit two threes and blocked a shot. Duke up 19-11 at the under 12. Duke is 6-of-10, 4-of-5 from three.

FSU with a 5-0 run to cut Duke's lead to 21-16 as we hit the under 8. Duke is outshooting and out rebounding the Noles. Blue Devils have 8 turnovers which is keeping FSU close. FSU 9-1 on points off turnovers

Turnovers continue to plague Duke. Noles cut the 10-point lead to 1 briefly. We go to the under four with Duke up 27-24.

Before Carey had his back-to-back double-doubles, Coach K said it had been hard getting him shots and Duke was working on ways to get him the ball. He's 1-of-2 tonight.

FSU hits just before the buzzer and we go to half with Duke up 33-32. Blue Devils were hot early but finish 11-of-24 from the field. Missed last four three attempts after starting 4-of-5. Duke had 11 turnovers leading to 11 FSU points.

Balanced scoring for Duke. Five players have between 5 and 8 points, led by Matthew Hurt.

Gray picks up his third foul at the 18:20 mark. He has 6 points, 2 assists.

Duke appears to be tired. Getting stripped on the inside, losing the fight for loose balls. Blue Devils lead 39-36 at the under 16, but it's looking like FSU took their best shot and is walking them down.

Jordan Goldwire is the first Blue Devil to reach double figures. Two threes this half give him 11 points. And two thirds of Duke's points this half.

Forrest gets his eighth steal of the game (8!!!) and takes it in for a game-tying dunk. Duke gets a time out at 13:17, 44-44.

Blue Devils up to 16 turnovers.

Duke gets a lift as Cassius Stanley one-hand dunks a Carey miss. Jones then drives and scores. Duke up 48-44 at the under 12.

Anthony Lawrence of Miami was the last Duke opponent with five steals in a game, two years ago. No one has ever had 10. Forrest currently has eight.

Cassius Stanley picks up his third foul. Goldwire also has two.

FSU is normally reliable at the line but is just 10-of-17 today.

Grueling possession by FSU, runs the clock down, misses, gets the rebound, runs clock again and scores to tie. FSU scores on the next possession too. Timeout Duke at 8:23, 52-50 FSU.

Last team with 15 steals against Duke: Oregon on Nov. 27, 2010. FSU currently has 14.

Alex O'Connell with a two and a three on back-to-back possessions, but FSU responds at the other end. Vernon Carey with a three point play. Duke up one 58-57

Tre Jones has been playing for about two minutes with one eye. Got poked on a drive to the basket but play hasn't stopped. Goldwire has been at the scorer's table. Jones found Moore for a full speed, driving reverse layup though. 61-57 Duke, time out FSU. 4:01 left

Jordan Goldwire has trouble walking off the court with leg cramps. Training staff working on him. Duke is gutting through this, absolutely exhausted. Up 64-61, 1:39 left.

Gray fouls out for FSU. 52 seconds left. DeLaurier hits both to put Duke up 66-61

Duke works the shot clock down and Matthew Hurt fights to get the offensive rebound. He’s going to the line with 11.7 left. FSU player loses a contact, icing Hurt but he hits first to make it two possessions. And second for good measure 

FSU scores to cut it to 3 with 3.4 left. Time out 

Duke hits free throws to pull out an impressive 70-65 win