bstrickland@heraldsun.com; 419-6671
GREENSBORO -- No one has ever questioned Duke's total commitment to winning the ACC Tournament, even in those years that it conceivably could be viewed as little more than a warm-up for the NCAA Tournament.
For a significant stretch of the Blue Devils' opener Friday afternoon, however, they played like a team with an eye toward next week.
"We didn't have the edge that I thought we needed to beat Virginia in the first half," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said following the top-seeded Blue Devils' 57-46 victory at Greensboro Coliseum. "I thought we came ready to play; I don't think we came with a sense of urgency."
Krzyzewski tried to cajole his team during a fiery timeout with seven minutes left in the first half, but what it really took to shake Duke was the narrow two-point margin it held heading to the game's final six minutes.
That's when the Blue Devils responded, at last, holding the ninth-seeded Cavaliers scoreless until the final 25 seconds while putting up 11 points to pull away.
Duke's big three, not surprisingly, scored all of the points that put it away.
Jon Scheyer, who had hit 2 of 14 shots to that point, hit all three of his attempts during the decisive run to finish with 15 points. Kyle Singler, who scored 14 of his 18 points in the second half and grabbed 11 rebounds, and Nolan Smith (15 points) complemented Scheyer's strong finish with an impressive tip-in apiece.
As a result, Duke (27-5) will continue its quest for its ninth ACC Tournament title in the last 12 years today (1:30 p.m., WRAL) when the Blue Devils take on No. 12 seed Miami, which downed No. 4 Virginia Tech 70-65 to become the first 12 seed to reach the semifinals.
"Winning the ACC is big -- we've won it eight out of the last 11 years, so it's been big to us -- but still you're looking ahead to next week, wondering what's going to happen," Krzyzewski said. "Somehow, you have to create a sense of urgency for this moment.
"I thought our team was able to do that by the second half."
Virginia's relentless effort finally got through to the Blue Devils. The Cavaliers (15-16) stood even at 27-all at halftime, then withstood 10 straight points from Singler early in the second half, falling behind 46-35 only to bounce back with nine straight points to make it 46-44 heading to the final six minutes.
"The situation created the sense of urgency," Krzyzewski said. "It's 46-44 -- you better play or you're going to go home."
Krzyzewski tried to get his team going and get Virginia out of its methodical offensive approach early on with a fullcourt press, but when the Cavaliers handled it, the Blue Devils backed off to conserve energy.
They never backed off in the intensity of their halfcourt defense, however, holding Virginia to 32.1-percent shooting on a day when Duke shot just a touch better at 38.2 percent. The Cavaliers actually found some success running off Duke misses -- of which there were plenty -- hanging close behind Jeff Jones (15 points) and Mike Scott (14 points, 11 rebounds).
Jones hit a pair of 3-pointers but Virginia hit just 3 of 14 as a team, with Sammy Zeglinski following up his 21-point game in an opening-round win over Boston College with an 0-for-9 day.
"All year, we haven't shot the ball well," said Smith, who scored 11 points in the first half. "It's been our defense that has kept us above water."
Despite the scare, the Blue Devils trailed just twice, both times by a single point late in the first half. And even if it wasn't their best day, they never doubted they'd live to play another day.
"We had a lot of poise," said Duke senior Brian Zoubek, who had just two points but grabbed seven rebounds. "We knew we were going to win just because there was no other option for us; we're not going home."
