swiseman@heraldsun.com; 419-6671
CLEMSON, S.C. — Duke’s Andre Dawkins entered Sunday’s game after a fit of rage from his coach.
His play the rest of the night pleased Mike Krzyzewski and helped the Blue Devils survive an ACC road game.
Coming off the bench when Krzyzewski abruptly benched all five starters, Dawkins poured in 24 points as the No. 8 Blue Devils beat Clemson 73-66 at Littlejohn Coliseum.
“It was a tough game for us,” Krzyzewski said. “Obviously, Andre had a spectacular game.”
His spectacular performance included hitting 7 of 12 shots from the field, with 5 of 6 3-pointers. That is the most points and 3-pointers by Dawkins since a 26-point night (with six 3-pointers) in a 74-69 win over Michigan State on Nov. 15 in New York.
His final 3-pointer, with 1:12 to play to put the Blue Devils up 68-61, all but sealed the game for Duke (15-2, 3-0 ACC).
“That was like the dagger,” said Duke center Mason Plumlee, who scored 12 points.
Dawkins, who hasn’t started since Nov. 29, had his big night launched by lackluster play by Duke’s starters.
At 17:20 of the first half, after Clemson had scored the game’s first six points against sluggish Duke defense, Krzyzewski pulled Seth Curry, Austin Rivers, Mason Plumlee, Quinn Cook and Ryan Kelly out of the game.
Dawkins entered along with Tyler Thornton, Josh Hairston, Miles Plumlee and Michael Gbinije.
Ever since Duke posted an impressive 61-58 win over No. 16 Virginia on Thursday night, Krzyzewski warned the players not to relax against Clemson (9-8, 1-2).
“I sent a message for two full days,” Krzyzewski said. “If we don’t get started, we’re going to find guys who are tough and want to win.”
Krzyzewski kept the reserves in as Clemson pushed its lead to 13-4 before inserting the starters one by one.
“We just realized we didn’t come out the way we should have,” Mason Plumlee said. “We didn’t play hard or smart. We had a couple of turnovers, and their buckets were all layups. We can’t give up layups.”
Clemson’s lead was 18-9 when Duke unleashed a 15-2 run that turned the game in its favor for good.
Mason Plumlee’s dunk and free throw with 5:49 left in the first half put Duke in front for good at 21-20.
The starters clearly received the message.
“After about eight minutes,” Krzyzewski said, “everybody wanted to fight and win.”
Clemson trailed 24-22 before Dawkins scored Duke’s final eight points of the half with two 3-pointers and a pair of free throws to give the Blue Devils a 32-28 halftime lead.
After intermission, Dawkins found himself in the starting lineup in place of freshman Austin Rivers, who went scoreless over the first 20 minutes and finished with a season-low four points.
“I just had to come out with the same mindset to play hard on both ends,” Dawkins said. “I think I did that and it paid off for me in the second half.”
Dawkins missed only one shot from the field after halftime, scoring 14 more points. Duke’s lead grew to 46-33 when Dawkins sank a 3-pointer with 15:40 to play.
Clemson, though, reeled off eight consecutive points to stay close.
Duke maintained the lead and pushed it to 13 points again at 63-50 on a Dawkins steal and dunk with 4:19 to play.
But Clemson rallied when Duke was held to two points, with no field goals, over the next three minutes.
With 1:12 left and the Blue Devils up 65-61, Dawkins hit perhaps the game’s biggest shot — a 3-pointer from the right wing. Clemson never drew closer than four points.
“Huge,” Clemson coach Brad Brownell said of Dawkins’ performance. “He has a bad night, and we win the game.”
No. 8 Duke 73, Clemson 66
DUKE|MP|FG|FT|Reb|A|F|Pt
Rivers|28|2-7|0-1|0-1|0|2|4
Cook|19|4-6|0-0|0-1|2|0|10
Curry|31|2-9|4-4|1-3|2|1|9
Mas Plumlee|26|4-6|4-4|3-7|1|4|12
Kelly|26|3-8|2-3|1-4|2|2|8
Hairston|4|0-1|0-0|0-0|0|1|0
Dawkins|27|7-12|5-6|0-2|0|0|24
Mi Plumlee|23|3-5|0-0|6-14|0|3|6
Thornton|12|0-3|0-0|1-3|2|1|0
Gbinije|4|0-0|0-0|0-0|0|1|0
Totals|200|25-57|15-18|13-39|9|15|73
Percentages: FG .439, FT .833. 3-Point Goals: 8-23, .348 (Dawkins 5-9, Cook 2-3, Curry 1-4, Kelly 0-2, Rivers 0-2, Thornton 0-3). Team Rebounds: 4. Blocked Shots: 4 (Dawkins 2, Mi. Plumlee, Kelly). Turnovers: 17 (Mi. Plumlee 4, Cook 2, Rivers 2, Kelly 2, Mas. Plumlee 2, Curry 2, Thornton, Gbinije, Dawkins). Steals: 5 (Curry, Mi. Plumlee, Thornton, Dawkins, Kelly).
CLEMSON|MP|FG|FT|Reb|A|F|Pt
Sapp|27|0-1|0-0|0-1|0|1|0
Jennings|27|7-13|1-4|1-4|3|4|16
Smith|34|4-12|2-4|2-7|4|1|11
Young|34|4-14|2-2|0-3|5|1|12
Booker|37|6-14|0-1|7-13|0|5|12
Coleman|7|0-3|1-2|0-1|1|0|1
Narcisse|8|1-2|2-2|2-4|0|2|4
Sullivan|3|0-0|0-0|0-0|0|1|0
Hall|7|0-0|2-4|0-1|0|0|2
Baciu|8|2-4|0-1|3-3|0|3|4
McDaniels|8|2-3|0-0|1-1|0|1|4
Totals|200|26-66|10-20|18-40|13|19|66
Percentages: FG .394, FT .500. 3-Point Goals: 4-16, .250 (Young 2-7, Jennings 1-3, Smith 1-3, Coleman 0-1, Sapp 0-1, Booker 0-1). Team Rebounds: 2. Blocked Shots: 2 (Jennings, Young). Turnovers: 12 (Booker 3, Sapp 3, Jennings 2, Baciu 2, Hall, Smith). Steals: 9 (Young 2, Jennings 2, Smith 2, Coleman, McDaniels, Booker).
Duke|32|41—73
Clemson|28|38—66
A—10,000. Officials—Karl Hess, Roger Ayers, Joe Lindsay.
