news-record.com

DURHAM — The average fan watches basketball for the scoring.

The average TV highlights package features acrobatic dunks and long-range jump shots.

The average defense, well, some hard-core fans bring a big “D” and a section of picket fence to wave around.

But Duke’s defense — especially this season — is anything but average. It’s why the Blue Devils are winning games, why they’re maybe the ACC’s best team.

Once again, Jon Scheyer (22 points), Kyle Singler (20) and Nolan Smith (11) scored most of the points as No. 8 Duke beat Florida State 70-56 on Wednesday night at sold-out Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Once again, it overshadowed a terrific defensive effort.

By holding the Seminoles (15-5, 3-3 ACC) to 56 points, Duke (17-3, 5-2) lowered its per game average of points allowed to 61.5.

How good is that? It’s the fewest points per game Duke has allowed since the 1949-50 team gave up just 58 a pop. It’s eye-opening in this era of shot clocks, fast-breaks and 3-point shots.

“They’re tough,” Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said. “They’re playing the best basketball in the ACC because their players are showing a level of maturity our players have not grown into yet. … They’re playing within themselves and doing the things they have to do with their talent to win games.”

A lot of it is on the defensive end.

Consider this: Florida State chipped away during a 5-minute stretch of the second half, cutting Duke’s 16-point lead down to 51-47 with 8:56 left.

Twenty seconds later, Singler — who finished with seven rebounds — picked up his fourth foul.

Bleak outlook, right?

Nope.

Singler stayed in the game. Duke’s defense — in this case a two-three zone named for Syracuse — made four straight stops. And the Blue Devils went on a 15-3 scoring run.

“When it got down to 51-47 and they’re shooting free throws,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said, “… I thought after that, our guys played with great character. I mean, really great character. Kyle played with four fouls. We had confidence in him not fouling, and I also felt he game would be won from the 8-minute to the 4-minute mark, not the 4-minute mark to the end. We needed him there. We went Orange (two-three zone) four or five exchanges and we got four stops in a row.”

The crowd understood. Consider:

* They roared when Lance Thomas, who was two steps behind the Seminoles’ Ryan Reid, still got a hand on the ball for a clean blocked shot.

* The loudest cheers of first half were for freshman Andre Dawkins hustling to the floor after a loose ball moments after coming off the bench

* They chanted Miles Plumlee’s name when he came out after cutting his head playing defense 2 minutes into the second half. He returned after getting five staples in his scalp to close the wound.

Even after the Florida State counterpunch, three Blue Devils — Scheyer, Smith and Singler, of course — undressed Derwin Kitchen with half-court pressure, forcing a turnover that led to Smith’s uncontested layup and a 62-50 lead with 3:43 left.

It was the beginning of the end for Florida State. The Seminoles trailed by double-digits the rest of the way.

It was just another day at the office for Duke’s defense.

Contact Jeff Mills at 373-7024 or jeff.mills@news-record.com

FLORIDA STATE (15-5) — Singleton 5-10 2-7 14, Reid 3-6 0-0 6, Alabi 6-12 2-3 14, Dulkys 0-1 0-0 0, Kitchen 1-2 0-1 3, Jordan 0-1 0-0 0, Gibson 3-7 0-0 6, DeMercy 0-0 0-0 0, Loucks 0-6 0-0 0, Snaer 5-9 2-3 13. Totals 23-54 6-14 56.

DUKE (17-3) — Singler 7-15 3-6 20, Mi.Plumlee 1-4 0-0 2, Thomas 2-3 2-3 6, Smith 4-15 3-4 11, Scheyer 7-12 4-4 22, Ma.Plumlee 0-2 0-0 0, Dawkins 1-3 0-0 3, Kelly 0-0 0-0 0, Zoubek 3-4 0-0 6. Totals 25-58 12-17 70.

Halftime—Duke 39-29.
3-point goals—Florida State 4-13 (Singleton 2-4, Kitchen 1-2, Snaer 1-2, Dulkys 0-1, Jordan 0-1, Loucks 0-3), Duke 8-22 (Scheyer 4-6, Singler 3-10, Dawkins 1-2, Ma.Plumlee 0-1, Smith 0-3).
Fouled out—Zoubek.
Rebounds—Florida State 40 (Alabi 10), Duke 30 (Singler 7).
Assists—Florida State 18 (Kitchen 10), Duke 16 (Scheyer 5).
Total fouls—Florida State 20, Duke 19.
A—9,314.