swiseman@heraldsun.com
DURHAM — Duke has cleared two important hurdles over the last week.
The Blue Devils posted their first win on an opponent’s home court at Georgia Tech and they won a game over Virginia that required a high level of defense.
No. 8 Duke hopes to put both together at Clemson tonight (6 p.m., ESPNU) in an ACC game at Littlejohn Coliseum.
The ACC-leading Blue Devils (14-2, 2-0) opened conference play at Atlanta on Jan. 7 with an 81-74 win over Georgia Tech. That came three days after a 78-73 loss at Temple.
Duke continued that momentum with a 61-58 win over No. 16 Virginia Thursday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium, where the Blue Devils have won 44 consecutive games. It was only the second time this season that Duke scored fewer than 70 points and won.
“I think this is a momentum builder going into Clemson,” Duke freshman guard Austin Rivers said. “Clemson's a great team, especially at home. Every team in the ACC is great, especially when they play Duke. We're really looking forward to going to Clemson and playing a good team in a hostile environment. Especially just beating a team like Virginia at home gives you momentum for that game.”
Even though Clemson (9-7, 1-1) has played inconsistent basketball this season, the Blue Devils haven’t been the same team away from Durham lately.
Duke lost three ACC road games last season (to Florida State, Virginia Tech and North Carolina). This season, the Blue Devils lost a nonconference game at Ohio State in addition to Temple.
That’s why the win over Georgia Tech at Philips Arena was so important.
Following that up with a grind-it-out win over Virginia and ACC player of the year candidate Mike Scott showed Duke can win in a variety of ways.
“That was an unbelievable game,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “It was a war. I thought both teams competed at the highest level. It was really a terrific win for our kids because they had to fight for 40 minutes against an outstanding team, a veteran team obviously and an extremely well-coached team with a player who's playing probably as well as anybody in the country.”
Clemson doesn’t appear to have that kind of firepower. The Tigers have lost to the College of Charleston, Coastal Carolina, Texas-El Paso and Hawaii in non-conference play.
But the past week has displayed how hard it is to get a handle on teams like Clemson.
The Tigers opened ACC play on Jan. 7 with a 79-59 wipeout of Florida State at Littlejohn Coliseum. That’s the same Florida State team that manhandled No. 3 North Carolina 90-57 on Saturday.
But Clemson regressed Thursday night, losing 59-57 at lowly Boston College, albeit a Boston College team that won its second straight Saturday, stopping Virginia Tech at home.
The Tigers figure to want tonight’s game to finish with teams scoring in the 60s to give them the best chance of winning. Because Duke won that type of game against Virginia, the Blue Devils are confident they could win under that condition again.
“I was really proud of our team because we won a different type of game,” Duke junior forward Mason Plumlee said. “This was a low-scoring game, possession-by-possession. We had to execute and then we had to defend, and I thought we did a really good job of that.”
