Duke basketball winning streak grows to seven with ACC tournament win against Pitt
No. 21 Duke scored the game’s first 12 points against Pittsburgh on Thursday, then did it again to start the second half.
What happened between and after those 12-point runs was all good for the Blue Devils as well.
Kyle Filipowski’s 22 points led hot-shooting Duke, which pounded Pitt 96-69 in the ACC tournament quarterfinals at Greensboro Coliseum.
Winners of seven consecutive games and 10 of their past 12, the fourth-seeded Blue Devils (24-8) advance to Friday night’s tournament semifinals to play top-seeded Miami at 7 p.m.
Duke eliminated coach Jeff Capel’s Panthers (22-11) in punishing style. The Blue Devils shot a season-best 62.1% overall, hitting 11 of 26 3-pointers. Duke’s 27 assists set an ACC tournament single-game record.
“It’s a reflection on these guys for how they’ve grown together as a team and just making the right play,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said. “Really some beautiful plays.”
The Blue Devils raced to a 48-32 lead, their largest-scoring first half of the season and continued to pour it on Pitt by making 10 of their first 13 shots of the second half.
“The job that these guys did, to come out just ready to go right from the start, was incredibly important,” Scheyer said.
In addition to Filipowski’s output, fellow freshman Dereck Lively matched his season high with 13 points. A third freshman, Mark Mitchell, scored 12 points while his classmate, Tyrese Proctor, finished with 11 points and 10 assists.
“Guys (were) just getting in the right spots and just knocking down open looks,” Proctor said. “I think we play our best basketball when we have open looks and guys are just cutting and making the right decisions, and I’m able to find them at the right time, and the rest is on them just making the play.”
Pitt shot 42.3% overall while making 5 of 18 3-pointers (27.8%). Nike Sibande’s 17 points paced Pitt while first-team, all-ACC guard Jamarius Burton scored 13 points, on 5-of-12 shooting.
“We could never really get into a rhythm offensively,” said Pitt’s Capel, a former Duke player and assistant coach. “We missed some shots early, and I just thought for the first time in a really, really long time we got knocked back and did not respond. Disappointed in that, but we played against an outstanding team that really, really played at a high level today.”
The only bit of unpleasantness for the Blue Devils came early in the first half when Filipowski fell to the court with an injured left ankle. He was helped to the bench but returned to the game after receiving treatment and continued his fine play.
“We’ll get him back to the hotel, get him seen, and then move forward,” Scheyer said. “But he looked pretty good to me when he got back out there.”
The Blue Devils blitzed Pitt from the game’s start, scoring the first 12 points and never letting their lead fall below eight points the rest of the half.
After hitting two 3-pointers, Filipowski left the game with 17:27 after colliding with Pitt’s Blake Hinson and injuring his left ankle. That scare didn’t slow the Blue Devils much and Filipowski, with his ankle having been re-taped, returned to the game with 11:16 to play with Duke up 16-6.
The Blue Devils shot 63% in the first half, making 17 of 27 shots, while turning the ball over just four times.
In addition to Filipowski’s 14 points, Lively and Jeremy Roach each scored seven first-half points for Duke.
The Blue Devils limited Pitt to 41.7% shooting (10 of 24) in the first half.
This story was originally published March 9, 2023 at 4:37 PM with the headline "Duke basketball winning streak grows to seven with ACC tournament win against Pitt."