The Duke Blue Devils rode a balanced attack and led throughout to send home top-seeded Miami, winning 85-78 and advance to the championship game of the 2023 ACC Tournament Saturday in Greensboro.
The Blue Devils were able to ride strong guard play and deadly inside-out work from Kyle Filipowski to down Miami, keeping them short of their goal of an ACC tournament title.
The Hurricanes suffered an early setback as Norchad Omier went down at 18:54 in the first half with a right ankle injury and was promptly ruled out for the rest of the contest by Miami medical staff. Both teams struggled from the field early and the game was tied at 7-7 at 15:42.
Duke built an early 4-point lead as Miami was cold from the field, going 1-8 during a three minute stretch with the Blue Devils' Tyrese Proctor hot early with 6 points.
The Canes tied the game at 14-14 after a 3-pointer by Bensley Joseph at the 11:22 mark capping a 9-0 run to get back in the contest going 4-5 from the field, taking advantage of a Duke 2:53 scoreless streak. An Isaiah Wong Jumper put the Hurricanes up 16-14 at 10:32.
A Mitchell 3-pointer put Duke up 23-22 at 7:24, as Duke scored on 4 of their last 5 shots during that period.
Miami's Joseph stole the ball and drove the court to cap a 5-0 Hurricane run to take a 32-31 lead at 3:41.
Duke took advantage of a 5-0 run to close out the first half to take a 41-36 lead into intermission. Dariq Whitehead led Duke with 8 points.
Miller waa the top scorer for Miami with 9 points at the break.
Duke shot 58 percent in the first half on 15-26 shooting. Duke was strong on the boards, out rebounding Miami 17-11 in the first half.
The Blue Devils opened the second half with back-to-back jumpers by Mitchell to take an 8-point lead.
Miami and Duke traded baskets over the next 3 minutes and following a layup by Jeremy Roach the Devils were up 52-46 at 15:58.
Wong hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key at 12:25 to draw Miami closer at 60-55 following missed shots and turnovers by both teams.
Both teams began to drive the ball inside and get to the free throw line, as Duke kept a one possession 66-63 lead at 7:32. Duke was 87 percent at the line at this point, making 11 of 13.
MIller drove the lane to cut the Duke lead to 1 with 6:59 to go and was fouled by Dereck Lively II. Wong picked up his fourth foul and sent Whitehead to the line to shoot three, putting Duke up 69-65.
Duke took care of the ball and made their foul shots down the stretch to put away the ACC regular season co-champions, 85-78, to advance to the title game.
Filipowski led Duke in scoring with 17 points while totaling 10 rebounds. Whitehead had 16 for Duke.
Miami was led by Wong with 22 points.
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