Rasheed Sulaimon shined today as Duke thumped Boston College 89-68 in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Sulaimon tallied a career-high 27 points and added 3 rebounds and 3 assists; it was the third time the freshman has been the Blue Devils' top scorer in a game. Sulaimon has also scored in double figures in four consecutive games, and Blue Devil Nation caught up with him in the Duke locker room after the game.
Duke at Virginia Tech
Thursday, February 21, 2013 • 9:00 p.m. • ESPN2
Blacksburg, Va. • Cassell Coliseum (9,847)
The Opening Tip
• The Blue Devils are ranked No. 6 in the AP Poll and in the USA Today Coaches Poll. Duke is 104-29 all-time when ranked No. 6 in the AP Poll.
• The Blue Devils have been ranked in the AP Top 10 for 109 consecutive weeks. Duke had been ranked in the top five for 13 straight weeks prior to this week’s No. 6 ranking.
• Duke is playing its 202nd straight game as a top-10 team in the AP poll. Duke is 168-33 in that span.
• Head coach Mike Krzyzewski is tied with Adolph Rupp for the third-most wins by a coach at one school with 876.
• Duke is playing back-to-back road games – excluding neutral sites – for only the second time this season. Duke defeated Wake Forest and Florida State in consecutive road games on Jan. 30 and Feb. 2.
• Duke is 9-3 away from Cameron Indoor Stadium this season.
The Last Time Out
• Rasheed Sulaimon hit three straight free throws to tie the game at 81-81 with 16 seconds left, but Maryland freshman Seth Allen sank a pair of free throws with two seconds left to lead the Terrapins past Duke, 83-81, in the Comcast Center Wednesday.
• After going scoreless in the first half, Sulaimon scored 16 points in the second half and hit all seven free throws.
• Seth Curry scored 25 points for Duke on 11-of-17 shooting. Quinn Cook contributed 18 points, and Josh Hairston scored a season-high 11.
• Duke forced 26 Maryland turnovers, scoring 27 poinst off Terrapin miscues. The 26 turnovers tied for the most by a Duke opponent this season.
• Maryland, which ranks second nationally in rebounds per game and rebounding margin, outrebounded Duke 40-20.
Numbers Game
l Duke, ranked No. 6 in the latest AP Poll, has been ranked in the top 10 of the poll 109 consecutive weeks. The last time Duke was not ranked in the top 10 was Nov. 19, 2007.
l Duke is one of only three teams in the top 10 of the Associated Press Poll (No. 6), Coaches Poll (No. 6), NCAA RPI (No. 1) and Strength of Schedule index (No. 1). Miami and Louisville are the other two teams ranked among the top 10.
l Duke leads the ACC in three-point percentage (.408) and three-point field goals per game (7.6 3pg.). The .408 clip would rank as the third-best in school history. Duke has made 10 or more three-point field goals eight times this season.
l Head coach Mike Krzyzewski is tied with Adolph Rupp for the third-most career victories at one school. Krzyzewski is 876-235 (.789) all-time as Duke’s head coach. Krzyzewski is three wins shy of tying Dean Smith for second all-time at one school and 34 shy of all-time leader Jim Boeheim.
l Coach K needs just one more win to reach 950 for his career. He is the winningest coach in Division I men’s basketball with 40 more wins than the next closest coach.
l Duke has lost back-to-back games just once since the 2009-10 season. Duke's record following a loss during that span is 16-1.
l Duke is one of only two teams in the ACC with five players averaging double-digit scoring. Mason Plumlee (17.6 ppg), Seth Curry (16.9), Ryan Kelly (13.4), Quinn Cook (12.3) and Rasheed Sulaimon (11.7) are all averaging double figures.
l Duke owns a 1.36:1 assist-to-turnover ratio, which would best the school record of 1.32:1 set by the 2000-01 NCAA Championship team.
l Mason Plumlee needs just 13 more rebounds to reach 1,000 for his career. Plumlee would be the eighth Blue Devil to reach that mark and the third with 1,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 150 blocks.
l Seth Curry has scored 20 or more points in seven of Duke’s 12 ACC games. He has scored in double figures in all but two of those games and averages 17.6 points per game in league play to rank third in the ACC. Curry also ranks among the top five in league play in three-pointers per game (t-1st, 3.0) and free throw percentage (3rd, .825).
l In Duke’s two games following a loss this season, freshman Rasheed Sulaimon averages a team-high 20.0 points per game while shooting .750 (9-of-12) from three-point range. Seth Curry averages 18.5 ppg and Mason Plumlee 17.5 ppg in games following a loss.
Duke-Virginia Tech Series History
• Duke leads the all-time series with Virginia Tech 40-8, with a combined 20-6 record in games outside of Cameron Indoor Stadium. Duke is 9-5 against Virginia Tech on the road and 11-1 at neutral sites.
• The Duke-Virginia Tech series began on Feb. 16, 1912 when Duke won 37-32.
• Duke is 11-3 against Virginia Tech under head coach Mike Krzyzewski.
• Duke has won four straight meetings and eight of the last nine contests.
• The last two meetings have been decided by an average of 4.5 points. Duke defeated Virginia Tech 70-65 in overtime in the final meeting of the 2011-12 regular season and then pulled out a 60-56 win in the 2012 ACC Tournament.
• Duke is 11-3 against Virginia Tech since the Hokies joined the ACC in 2004-05.
DURHAM, N.C. - While Mason Plumlee has been the one player on the team to get most of the hype in the #1 ranked Duke Blue Devils 14-0 start, fellow senior Ryan Kelly is just as important in many ways. One of the keys to this seasons success has been the two seniors ability to play together and to their strengths and for Kelly that means doing whatever it takes to help his team to win.
Kelly is coming off a season high 22 points in the Blue Devils opening ACC win over Wake Forest and he was amazingly proficient in that he played a mere 18 minutes before fouling out. It was the fourth time in his career he had 20 plus points against the Deacons and several of the in state teams which recruited him are now feeling his wrath.
"He's just a terrific player. What makes him such a great player is he can shoot the three and he is very crafty in the post," said Wake Forest Coach Jeff Bzdelik.
One of three senior captains, Kelly has been very instrumental in doing what it takes to win this season. He told Blue Devil Nation earlier this year that he was willing to do whatever it took after garnering a team high rebounds versus Florida Gulf Coast. And for those keeping count Kelly has tied or led the Blue Devils in scoring for two consecutive games and this is key when other players shots may be a bit off on a given day.
With an average of 13.5 ppg, Kelly is on track to become a 1000 point scorer in the Duke uniform which is quite the honor when you consider the talent that comes through Durham under Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski. Kelly has started every game for Duke this season and that trend will continue provided there are no unfortunate injuries. In those 14 starts this season, Kelly has scored in double figures in all but one game.
If you do not watch the play off ball, you may not appreciate Kellys' skill set. There have been several games where he is near the top of the charts on assists and he leads the team in blocked shots with 25 thus far this season. "I think Ryan has the ability to score 20 points against anybody," said Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski after the Wake Forest win. He continued by saying, "Ryan is really good. I think when opponents are trying to take Mason Plumlee and Seth Curry out of the game, it opens it up a little more for Ryan.
What Krzyzewski was saying is that Kelly steps up when other on the team struggle with areas of their game. An example was the fact that Quinn Cook dished a phenomenal 14 assists, just shy of the single game record set by Bobby Hurley, but he went oh for everything from the field. Kelly, coming off a team high 18 points in a road win over Davidson picked it up on the scoring end and his made three-point shots were daggers.
"One time he faked two of our guys and wheeled," said Wake Forest Coach Jeff Bzdelik. "He's smart, he's skilled, he stretches you out."
Being a senior, Kelly has been through three years of ACC wars and while he didn't play a great deal as a freshman, he dons a 2010 National Championship ring. Many pre season prognosticators overlooked the fact that Duke returned three seniors who knows what it takes to win and get to a Final Four and that experience from the likes of Ryan Kelly will continue to pay off handsomely for the undefeated Blue Devils as they get into the meat of the Atlantic Coast Conference schedule.
In his post game comments, Krzyzewski acknowledged Kelly was in the zone and said he would have kept calling his number. Kelly has earned the confidence of his coach with hard work and smarts when on the court. I think back to a conversation I had with his mom Doreen Kelly after Duke lost a heart breaker to Arizona in the Western Regional where she said, "I have told Ryan to run his own race," and that's what the senior co captain has done. And for Duke fans it's nice to see how hard work and perseverance has payed off.
Duke takes on Clemson tomorrow evening before a high noon, high-profile on the road showdown with N.C. State on Saturday in a game that will be hyped as the best two teams in the ACC going after one another. But if you think Kelly is looking ahead, think again. "The 13-0 is gone now and we're 1-0 in the ACC," said Kelly after the Blue Devils ACC opening win over Wake Forest.
As a senior Kelly very much reflects the wise thinking of his coach and he knows that a magical season to date where the Blue Devils have defeated all comers will soon be forgotten if they stumble down the stretch. And as long as Kelly is able, he is going to try to will that to happen.
Kelly, as well as his teammates know nice starts are just grand but what they do from this point forward will be remembered come April.
Post game video run down from the Blue Devils 80-62 ACC opening win over Wake Forest.
As Duke prepares for Wake Forest, select players took to the podium. Hear what they had so say through BDN Video -
The Duke Blue Devils are headed to Charlotte to finish their season in style in the Belk Bowl and BDN Video caught up to offensive lineman Dave Harding to get his thoughts on the opportunity -
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