No. 9 Duke cruises past Florida State for fourth straight win, 88-70
Posted February 19, 2022 7:11 p.m. EST
Updated February 19, 2022 9:28 p.m. EST
 Florida State Seminoles |
70 |
 9Duke Blue Devils |
88 |
| Final | |
No. 9 Duke (23-4, 13-3 ACC) will have just two more opportunities to play on its home court with Mike Krzyzewski as its head coach this season.
But it made the most of its penultimate home game with Coach K, cruising past Florida State 88-70.
Florida State (14-12, 7-9 ACC) beat Duke in the first meeting between the two teams in Tallahassee back on January 18. In barely a month, Florida State has now lost four of the five starters from that win due to injury.
The Seminoles have lost seven of their last eight games.
But that didn't stop Florida State from hanging in there and even leading at times in the first half, shooting nearly 59% from the field.
Duke closed the first half on a 12-2 run, though, and led by 11 at the break. Duke would lead by double digits for the entire second half and led by as many as 24 points.
Paolo Banchero picked up his second foul for Duke with around 13 minutes to go and Mark Williams joined him 3 minutes later. Williams would sit the rest of the half and Banchero came back with 4:44 to go and had a few rebounds, an assist and two points.
But Banchero finished with a game-high 17 points, scoring 13 of those in the second half.
Duke shot nearly 52% from the field and 11 of 28 (39.3%) from the 3-point line. Florida State shot 50% and was 6 of 19 from 3 (31.6%).
Wendell Moore Jr. had 16 points on 5 of 10 shooting, adding five rebounds, seven assists and six steals for the Blue Devils.
A.J. Griffin had 12 of his 15 points in the first half while Trevor Keels added 13 points and Mark Williams added 10.
Matthew Cleveland led Florida State with 16 points, 11 of which came in the first half. Jalen Warley added 15 points while Cam'Ron Fletcher had 12 and Tanner Ngom added 11.
Duke has now won four straight games after dropping a home game to Virginia on February 7. The Blue Devils will travel to Charlottesville for a rematch with the Cavaliers on Wednesday.
