Duke’s 80-79 win over Florida State on Thursday in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals is the kind of game that can be viewed through two very real lenses.
On one hand, it absolutely showed how much tougher life can get for the Blue Devils without Caleb Foster and Patrick Ngongba, both of whom were out with foot issues.
On the other, this wasn’t some random off night against an average opponent. Florida State came into Charlotte playing some of its best basketball of the season under first-year coach Luke Loucks, having recovered from an 0-5 ACC start by winning 11of their last 15 games.
The scoreboard told that story clearly. Florida State led 44-43 at halftime, then pushed its advantage to 59-51 early in the second half as Robert McCray V and Lajae Jones kept attacking.
Jones finished with 28 points, McCray added 25, and Florida State shot 51.9 percent from the floor while hitting 11 threes. That is not the profile of a team just happy to be there. That is a team confident in its plan, aggressive in its shot-making, and fully believing it could take down the No. 1 seed.
At the same time, it is fair to say Duke missed the steadiness Foster and Ngongba provide. Without them, Duke looked a little more vulnerable to Florida State’s changing defenses and pressure, and the Blue Devils didn’t have their usual margin for error.
Duke shot just 43.8 percent from the field, 29.4 percent from three, and only 60.9 percent at the foul line. Those are not the clean, overwhelming numbers Duke is used to posting when it’s fully intact.
Still, what championship-level teams do is survive the nights that are messy. Duke did that by leaning on star power and toughness.
Isaiah Evans poured in 32 points with seven made threes, while Cameron Boozer added 23 points and 10 rebounds. More importantly, after falling behind by eight in the second half, Duke answered with a 19-2 run to flip the game. That response matters. So does the fact Florida State still had a shot at the buzzer that rolled off the rim.
So what was this game really? A warning sign for Duke without Foster and Ngongba? Sure. But it was also evidence that Florida State is a legitimately dangerous team under Loucks.
The smartest read is probably the simplest one: Duke was shorthanded, and Florida State is a lot better than its seed suggested. Both can be true.
Duke will meet Clemson tonight in the semifinal round.