The Duke Blue Devils defeated Florida State last evening and in the process pushed their overall record 21-7 with a 10-4 mark in the ACC.  The Blue Devils used a balanced scoring attack where multiple players contributed in that Duke had four double figure scorers.

Duke has now won 6 of its last 7 outings, despite a short bench.  But that bench looked better last night with great minutes from Chase Jeter.  The freshman from California has a nice stretch where he pulled down 5 rebounds, 4 of them on the defensive end.  Jeter also made a key block in the game which energized the Cameron Crazies who started to cheer his name.

The Blue Devils were once again led in scoring by Grayson Allen who tallied 18 points.  But his hard-nosed effort was overshadowed by a late trip of Xavier Rathan-Mayes.  There was physical play between the two for parts of the game, but only the clip of the trip was shown by varying media outlets which turned into quick bait-click for every Duke hater in America.

While I certainly do not condone the trip from Allen, I do think he has been somewhat unfairly treated by many who have likely never played the game of basketball in an intense manner.  Allen is still young and he will learn from this experience and the word is out that the ACC office is reviewing the play. Did I mention that no off ball stuff has been talked about?

Oddly, the ACC office did not review the play from the Louisville loss where physical play ruled.  In that game, Allen was elbowed and the referees had to restrain a Louisville player from taking more swings and going after Allen even while he was down.  And it is a known fact that Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski has commented on how inconsistent calls have been this season.

It is also worth mentioning that Rathan-Mayes seemed to take nothing personal per his reaction in real time. and he deserves credit for that.  Also, the official interceded who was right on the play and even in the post game, nothing was said by either coach on the incident.

Still, Mike Krzyzewski has since contacted Florida State Coach Leonard Hamilton per ESPN.  He had the following to say -

Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton told ESPN Friday that Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski called him Friday to apologize for Grayson Allen's trip of Xavier Rathan-Mayes in the final seconds of Thursday night's game at Cameron Indoor Stadium. "He acknowledged the fact and apologized to our staff and to let Xavier know too. We accepted it and moved on. It's the end of it. I was proud of the way Xavier handled it. We've done moved on. We don't want to let it become an issue. It's over.''

Not long after that, the ACC had the following to say -

"The ACC considers the matter closed and will have no further comment," 

So, there is no ban for Allen but he was and should have been reprimanded.

Anyhow, Duke has been playing good basketball which should not go unnoticed.  Krzyzewski praised his team's effort in last evening win and once again state how he loved coaching this team.

The Blue Devils continue to get great senior leadership from Marshall Plumlee and the team is not turning the ball over.  After some early season struggles, the team and staff should be commended for figuring out a way to compete at a high level.

Next up for Duke will be a tough road game at Pittsburgh against a team that will want to make Duke a victim.  The Panthers are big, physical and hungry for a defining win for their tournament resume.

We know some things will happen on Sunday.  First, Grayson Allen will be booed but he's use to it and that.  And we also know this will be another stiff challenge.  If Duke continues to play as they have of late, they have a good shot of winning, but nothing comes easy in this years ACC.