Duke basketball survived a major scare Thursday in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament. And head coach Jon Scheyer felt compelled to take a shot at his own conference after escaping Florida State 80-79.
Scheyer's subtle dig surfaced after the one-point win with reporters postgame.
“We have to recover quickly. We're not playing the noon game this year. We're the only one seed not to be playing early in the country,” Scheyer shared.
Yes it's true the ACC tourney received some odd scheduling. It's also true that Duke got placed in one of the tougher brackets of the conference tournament. Duke would've played a 21-win Cal team had the Golden Bears defeated FSU.
Duke still moves on, but not without a massive scare inside the Spectrum Center in Charlotte.
How Duke, Jon Scheyer survived Florida State
Duke began by rolling without Patrick Ngongba II and Caleb Foster, leaving the Blue Devils without two starters.
Then they needed to overcome a sloppy first half. Florida State jumped out to a 44-43 lead in applying a scare at the gate. Robert McCray V hit a six-foot floating jump shot with no time left in the first half.
But the Blue Devils exploded to a 19-2 run to help take a commanding lead. Except the Seminoles wouldn't go away.
Chauncey Wiggins blocked a Cameron Boozer shot with FSU getting the ball back. However, McCray's final three-point attempt rimmed out, allowing Duke to celebrate the win.
Boozer settled for 23 points while Isaiah Evans led Duke with 32 points. No other Duke player scored past 10 points.
