Unranked and underappreciated due to a rare mediocre start to the season, Duke sent a message on Saturday that it plans to have more success the rest of the season than it had shown so far.
In their best performance of the season, the Blue Devils dominated Clemson by opening a 19-point halftime lead, extending it to as large as 35 in the second half and posting a 79-53 ACC basketball win at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Winning its second game in a row following a three-game losing streak, Duke (7-5, 5-3 ACC) used a balanced offensive attack to blast the Tigers (10-5, 4-5 ACC).
Matthew Hurt led Duke with 13 points while Jeremy Roach came off the bench to score 12. Wendell Moore, DJ Steward and Mark Williams each had 11 points.
“Our work ethic has been crazy in practice so it’s not very surprising that we’re finally coming along and were playing together well,” Steward said.
Duke shot 45.9% and turned the ball over just nine times. That’s the second-fewest turnovers the Blue Devils have committed in a game this season. The Blue Devils were credited with a season-best 20 assists on their 28 made field goals.
“Our guys are unselfish kids,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said, “so they’re looking for one another.”
Clemson shot 35.1% from the field, including 5 of 21 on 3-pointers. The Tigers are now 4-64 against Duke in games played in Durham, having not won at Cameron Indoor Stadium since 1995.
“Our number one objective in the game was to keep Duke out of transition, “ Clemson coach Brad Brownell said. “We think they are very good that way and we didn’t do any of that. Our turnovers gave them 25 points off turnovers. We gave them confidence and put us in a huge hole.”
